Odyssey Into Hell
by xXVahaHarenXx
Summary: She saved his ass and joined forces with the group back in Atlanta but hey, you never know when a half Irish, machete wielding, ex marine Sniper traveling in a black T-Top with a pitbull and harboring a dark secret or three might come in handy. Daryl/OC.
1. Saved by a Girl and her Dog

**Disclaimer: **The Walking Dead and it's characters belong to their respective owners which is not me but I do however own Neon, Spud and other Characters that are not in the Walking Dead.

This is rated for the adult situations further down the line and it's gratuitous amount of violence and swearing. Don't like it don't read it, it's honestly that simple, I don't need to listen to your complaints.

* * *

**Saved by a Girl and her Dog**

=Daryl's P.O.V=

I panted, my calves aching as I tried to outrun the ten strong pack of Walker's, I would have taken them on but with three arrows left and my knife dropped down a fucking drain, thanks to that asshole brother of mine, I would have to keep running and hope to hell I still had enough strength left in me to jam an arrow in my own head when I eventually got caught.

I tried to drown out their vicious screams and gurgles from my mind by overloading it with thought's, my brother, the wilderness, camp, cars, hot woman, anything would do right now. We'd ventured into the infested city for supplies, the ones at the camp running low, and I'd figured why the hell not scavenge a new knife at the same time but in a sudden split second we'd been ambushed by a pack of Walker's, at first it had only been one but then others had joined in and so we'd been split up, Merle heading in one direction taking a good chunk of the Walker's with him and me heading in another direction.

I grunted hard as I hit the ground in a roll, my calf screaming in pain as the muscles pulled tight. I glanced back scrambling to my hands and knees attempting to flee. I wasn't going to go down without a fight but with no weapons I was a goddamn goner. I twisted scrambling again for my crossbow that had fallen several feet from me, pain still searing through my leg. I twisted grabbing my crossbow and rolled onto my back ready to try and club them only to witness each Walker in turn stop cold, head's forced back as bullet's ripped through them, the first one's neck broke from the force, the bone snapping through the skin of its neck as the back of its head exploded taking blood and whatever was left of its brain with it, another four following suit in the seconds afterwards before a brief second maybe two interlude allowed the others to draw a few steps closer before they too joined the rest of the Walkers on the ground.

I exhaled slowly unsure of what had happened until a black T-Top swung around in front of me, I swallowed roughly as the passengers door swung open to reveal a woman in the driver's seat.

"Hurry up_ bogha_ and get the fuck in before more of those Shuffler's show up," She threw me a haphazard grin. "You can thank me later"

I scrambled into the car spitting curses at my leg as pain raced up it. "Who the fuck are you?"

She looked over at me; an eyebrow arched slightly, lips quirking into a smirk at the corners. "Chick that just saved your life so show some fuckin' respect" She stated changing gears and hitting the gas tearing off down the street in the direction in which she'd come.

"Still don't answer my question"

She gave me a once over out the corner of her eye. "What's it to you anyway?"

"Alright Neon, no need to get all up in arms about it"

She snorted softly, "Neon?" She queried before reaching up to touch the bright Neon green strip of hair that fell down the right side of her face from her parting. "At least its semi original," She murmured shrugging lightly. "So what's your name?"

"Daryl"

She grinned softly. "I think I like _bogha_ better love," A deep woof echoed from the back seat earning a laugh from the woman. "And that's Spud"

I looked through the mirror at the sandy coloured pitbull sitting on the back seat, white splashed on his chest, underbelly and nose. "Spud? What kinda fuckin' name is Spud?"

"His," She jerked her head towards the dog before sliding the car with ease around a corner into another street. "So what the fuck are you doing out here alone anyway? I mean shit I'm half way fuckin' crazy so I've got an excuse"

"I was out here with my brother; got jumped by those bastards"

She nodded slowing, the car bouncing slightly as she pulled into a small alcove and backed up to around a truck fitting the '82 TransAm between it and a roller door. "Come on, it's gettin' too late to go find your brother, best hope is that the finds somewhere for the night or makes it back to wherever the hell you crawled out of" She stated sliding out of the car grabbing a pack from the backseat and slipped through a side door, her pitbull following suit.

"So this is home is it?"

She snorted softly. "York and Galway were home, this is just a stopover on my travels," She chuckled softly checking the two other doors into the small loading dock before finally setting her things down, the roller door was barricaded with boxes and other assorted thing as well as the door leading to the rest of the building that was no doubt infested with Walkers, that only left two other escapes, the door we'd come in and the door leading to an alley that was lightly barricaded. "She's not much but she's cosy enough for a night or two, well me for and Spud it is," She jerked her head towards my leg as I settled down on a box. "You get bit?"

I shook my head. "Pulled a fuckin' muscle"

She nodded before rifling through her bag and throwing a bottle of pills my way and a bottle of unopened water. "Should help with the pain" She stated before beginning to make a small bed of blankets in the corner of the dock near the exits, a matte black L115A3 sitting in front of her with a desert eagle strapped to her thigh and a dark grey Smith and Wesson 6 shot Stealth Hunter revolver at her hip.

"You know how to use those?"

She looked up, a smirk tugging at her lips. "Ex Marine Sniper, Special forces and black ops," She stated before grinning lightly. "And if you didn't see I saved your life by taking down the bastard's chasing you"

"Yeah," I rubbed at the back of my neck, embarrassed at being saved by a woman. "Thanks I guess"

She gave a small movement of her head to show she'd heard and settled into disassembling and cleaning her L115A3.

I jerked slightly as a packet landed in my lap, BBQ flavored beef jerky.

"It's not much since you kind of cut my scavenging short" She stated tearing off a chunk of the jerky she had and threw it towards her dog, blanket around her shoulders as she chewed idly on another piece as she reassembled her guns.

* * *

I watched silently as she rifled through her pack and pulled out a pack of something before shoving it back in her bag and pulling out another, this time a winning grin on her lips as she tore into it with her teeth tipping its contents into a bowl before adding water from her bottle to it.

"So _**Daryl**_," She drawled my name out before glancing up as she mixed the contents of the bowl together. "You any good with that crossbow?"

I looked to the crossbow sitting beside me and shrugged. "Yeah, used to hunt with it all the time before all the world turned to shit"

She nodded lightly licking the spoon clean grimacing slightly. "God I'll never get used to this shit" She choked out taking a few mouthfuls before swallowing them back and handing it towards me.

"What is it?"

"Military rations, I raided a military outpost on the outskirts of the city when I first came through," She explained tugging her denim jacket closer, the hood of the hoodie she had on underneath it bunched around her neck. "Most of them taste like shit but they usually keep you full for a while," She grinned softly. "I've been living off those and fuckin' jerky since the world got dragged arse ways through hell"

I snorted almost choking at her words before reaching for my bottle of water and taking a large gulp to wash down the food, if you could really call it that. "We gotta find the others in the morning"

Neon looked up; I still didn't even know her real name which was irking me slightly. "We can't travel too deep into the city, we're just asking for a bite by staying here," She stated. "But if we track around the out laying streets we should be able to make it from one end of the city to the other," She drew a square in the dust and dirt on the ground and looked to the dog laying between her legs and stroked his sandy brown fur as he rested his head in her lap. "And beside I need to gas the 'Am"

I gave a jerk of a nod tugging the blanket closer; the cold was creeping in through the cracks under the doors and through the concrete of the walls. "So why'd you come this way?"

"Boston was overrun, DC too, heard Atlanta was supposed to be a huge refugee camp or some shit, load of fuckin' bullshit that was, thought I might find some people here but when I first saw the city I knew that wasn't the case," She looked up, eyes unfocused on the roller door across from her before she shook her head lightly clearing whatever thoughts were in her mind. "I only stuck around to make sure they weren't here, weren't Shuffler's," She looked towards me before looking away. "Made a promise I'd put a bullet in them if I found them like that," She jerked her head towards the door. "Scoured this entire fuckin' city and they're not here," She broke a small smile. "Not sure if I should be relieved or worried," She looked back towards me. "What about you? Why you here?"

"Same as you, thought this shithole was supposed to be a fuckin' safe haven but it wasn't, they dropped bombs or some shit on the city, well that what everyone back at the camp said"

She gave a nod, worry and sadness betrayed through her gun metal grey shaded irises, a soft 'hmm' coming from her as she rested back stroking her dog's head lightly, eye's slipping shut. "Napalms, if I remember correctly they did it to all the big cities when they got overrun," She shifted getting comfortable and rested a hand on her dog's back. "You try anything with me and I'll shove you out that fuckin' door in your birthday suit and you can fend for yourself" She threatened before wrapping the blanket tighter around herself, her pitbull resting against her half under the blanket with her.

I watched her silently for a moment, Shane would have a fucking field day if she came back to the camp expecting to stay, something told me she didn't expect to stay though, hadn't bothered asking about them at all. Her grip stayed tight around the Smith and Wesson and the stiletto switch blade I'd seen her holding only seconds before she'd wrapped herself up tight.

I looked to the crossbow next to me gripping it tight before shutting my eyes, this place was safe enough, barricade up the eyeballs and her pitbull, _Spud_, was awake with one eye open on the door, it must have been how they moved and stayed alive, moving from one place to the next, find a corner, barricade it and have her dog keep guard while she slept, I shifted slightly wondering if my brother had gotten away or if I'd be delivering a bolt through his head to end his misery.

I shifted again, my muscles still aching dully as I attempted to sleep, the night would hopefully pass quickly as it always did.

* * *

Feel free to review, they are nice to read and criticism is always welcomed providing it's constructive and you're not just going to sit there and poke fun at this, tell me where I can improve, correct my spelling or whatever I do not mind but the honest to god simple thing is, **don't like it don't read**.

This is the first part of my _Into Hell Series, _yes I am going to do more than one story but it may take some time as I have several other stories I'm currently working on, as with all my other stories there will be artwork to accompany this on my Deviant art account, please go to my profile for my username over there.


	2. Water Tankers and Gas Stations

**Disclaimer:** The Walking Dead and it's characters belong to their respective owners which is not me but I do however own Neon, Spud and other Characters that are not in the Walking Dead.

**Leyshla Gisel:** Thank you, I don't mind if you don't have much advice but if something doesn't make sense just tell me and spelling mistakes, spelling mistakes are what irk me the most because I'll go back and read something I wrote and be like 'oh for fuck sake' then need to go back and change about seven or eight words because they're all wrong. Keep an eye out on my DA profile for a pic of Neon and Spud and her TransAm, it'll be along soon as will some more artwork for the series.

* * *

**Water Tankers and Gas Stations**

=Daryl's P.O.V=

I woke with a jerk and glanced around wildly wondering where the hell I was for a second before exhaling remembering the previous evening's events. I shifted looking around before finding Neon gone from her spot. I stood testing my leg finding it easier to put weight on it before popping some more pills.

"So you're finally awake huh?"

I spun on my heel gripping my crossbow aiming it at her before lowering it as I found her leaning against one of the rusted steel shelving units. "Where the fuck did you go?"

She jerked her head slightly to her right. "For a piss" She stated, lips quirking in a smirk as she pushed herself off the unstable shelving making it wobble and creak and jumped down to the small corner she'd had herself tucked into over the night before folding the blanket and rifling through her bag pulling out a bag of beef jerky.

I blinked slightly taking her in and finally noticing she didn't have her two jackets on either, I roamed my eyes over her skin, she was covered in grime and dirt but underneath the layers of blood and grime were layer's of ink. "You got ink?"

She glanced up before nodding. "Aye, a bit why?"

I shrugged lightly. "Can't see it under all that shit on your skin"

She laughed softly looking at her clothing and then her skin before shrugging. "I haven't bathed in a week, maybe week and a half," She turned her nose up at the smell emitting from the clothing she wore. "There's a water tanker at the gas station that's still got water in it, we can stop on the way back to this so called camp of yours if we don't find your brother"

I gave a nod watching her hoist her rifle over her shoulder pulling her desert eagle free and attaching a silencer to the end. "Come on, we need to get this shit done quick otherwise we attract to much attention so go take a piss and whatever else you've gotta do" She stated opening the door carefully and peering out through the crack before shutting it softly again.

* * *

=Neon's P.O.V=

I glanced around the outside seeing it all clear and slowly pushed the door open further before ushering both Spud and the crossbow wielding badass I'd saved the day before out the door before shutting the door just as quietly as I had before sliding into the driver's seat after letting Spud jump in and throwing my pack on the back seat with him, the '82 TransAm I'd poured my heart and soul into saving from a scrap yard roared as I started it up and pulled out slowly before hitting the gas heading towards the back streets hoping to bypass the majority of the cities Shuffler infestation which seemed to stick to the city centre and surrounding streets.

"After we get a full tank I'm going to need directions"

"Know how to get to the quarry?"

I nodded lightly. "I thought I saw fires up there, wasn't too sure though," I murmured swiftly changing gears and pulled down another street, tyre's skidding on the blood slick ground as I skidded around a corner taking out a lone Shuffler with the rear end of the car. "Fuckin' Shuffler's"

"Shuffler's?"

I glanced towards my passenger and nodded. "The dead, I guess everywhere has a different name but Boston was calling them Shufflers"

"We just call 'em Walkers"

I nodded lightly pulling down another street before slowing and pulling into the gas station cutting the engine before sliding out and readying my eagle before taking a look around. I started to gas the car once I'd deemed it safe and grabbed a change of clothing from the back. "Watch my arse" I stated before heading towards the water tanker and turning the hose end so it gave a good steady stream of freezing water enough for me to at least wash my skin and hair with.

I placed my eagle within reach on the truck and dumped the dark green stained tank top of the ground before starting to wash off the grime, blood and dirt from my skin before glancing over my shoulder at my temporary companion. "You know when I said _'watch my arse'_ I didn't mean it literally, I meant for you to watch for those fuckin' Shuffler's"

He snorted lightly. "What if I'm enjoying the show?"

I rolled my eyes unhooking my bra and scrubbing at the rest of my skin before drying off and quickly pulling on a new bra and a greying tank top before smoothing back the deep chestnut locks of wet hair and gave a grin. "So I look better without all that shit on my skin as you so eloquently put it this morning?" I queried turning the hose off.

Daryl gave a jerk of his head before taking the nozzle from the gas tank and closing both off for me. "At least you ain't afraid to get dirty unlike some of them back at camp," He rolled his eyes. "God help 'em should they get some fuckin' dirt on 'em or break a nail"

I laughed softly stretching up, my spine popping and cracking as I dumped my dirty clothing into a spare bag and shut the boot lid before sliding back into the driver's seat. "We can do a skirt around the city on the way to the highway and check for your brother but I'm not risking getting overrun by going any deeper in"

"Alrigh', knowin' Merle he'll be back at camp anyway," He snorted softly. "Probably call me a fuckin' pussy for havin' my ass saved by a woman"

"Just you and your brother?"

He gave a nod. "You?"

I gave a small hum and a jerk of my shoulders unwilling to speak much on the topic. "I got a brother wrapped up in this hell somewhere, we got separated in Boston." I didn't need to discuss too much of my family situation or lack thereof with a stranger.

"Where the hell you from anyway? Don't sound like no American"

"I'm not, I'm from York, England," I swept my eyes over the road briefly before coming to land on his. "Born in Galway moved from there to York and then to Boston a few years ago before I left the arsehole I was married to" I shrugged lightly moving my eyes back to the road.

"Married?" He snorted smirking slightly. "What you forget to wash the bed sheets or some shit?"

I slammed on the brakes, his head slamming against the windscreen. "Want to get out and walk?" I queried. "'Cause if so the road is right there"

"Alrigh', alrigh'," He put his hands up in defense. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, didn't mean to get your panties in a bunch"

I rolled my eyes lightly. "Don't know what planet you're livin' on but I'm not wearing _**panties**__,_" I stated hitting the gas again and glanced out the corner of my eye to see his mouth slightly agape, I laughed softly shaking my head lightly. "Honestly? You bought that?"

He shook his head lightly looking away before concentrating out the window, a redness tinting his cheeks, I considered for a moment teasing him about it but thought better of it before winding down the windows and hauling ass towards the only clear road leading into and out of the city.

* * *

Busy working on a pic of Spud, Neon and her 'Am, should have it done sooner or later. I am however going to throw a pic up on DA which is pretty much a cover page for the series so when the next chapters up that should be up too.


	3. Making Camp

**Disclaimer:** The Walking Dead and it's characters belong to their respective owners which is not me but I do however own Neon, Spud and other Characters that are not in the Walking Dead.

**Leyshla Gisel:** Your wish has been answered, group meeting ahead, plus plenty of stage setting for more angst down the line. :D

* * *

**Making Camp**

=Neon's P.O.V=

I pulled through the gate leading towards the quarry before heading down the gravel road. "I'm gonna need to tune my baby after this" I groused softly giving the TransAm more gas as we started up the hill.

"So where'd you jack this from?"

I glanced towards Daryl. "I didn't _'jack'_ this from anywhere; I saved her from a scrap yard five years ago, my first big project before deciding to open an auto repair and restoration workshop"

"So you're a mechanic huh?"

"Was," I corrected. "I _**was**_ a mechanic, now I'm just a woman trying to stay alive like everyone else that's left standing," I grinned softly. "But in saying that I'm the type of woman that could give you a hundred and one designs and prototypes for the next breed of flame thrower"

He gave a jerk of a nod, a poorly covered chuckle coming from him as I pulled up behind a 4x4 and slipped out.

I twisted slightly patting Spud's head. "Do me a favour and stay here" I stated before sliding out of the car and hung back watching some of the camp inhabitants head towards Daryl, only one of them slung their arms around him in a tight brother like hug.

"Thought we'd lost you man"

"Nah, ain't no Walker's gonna take me down"

I rolled my eyes lightly watching the small group wearily. "So how'd you make it back?" The older looking guy asked.

Daryl jerked his head towards me. "Neon helped me out"

"Neon?"

I gave an awkward wave as I came closer to the group. "That'd be me"

"Aw my little brother found a girl," The guy next to Daryl mocked lightly. "And a _**hot**_ one too"

I rolled my eyes. "Do me a favour and go take a tub of Vaseline and sit in the shade" I shot back dryly at him.

"Girlies got a mouth on her too" He laughed.

"Na Merle, she's alrigh'," Daryl shoved his brother lightly. "Better shot than your sorry ass"

I grinned briefly at the compliment before turning my attention to one of the woman that was there. "You look like you could do with some breakfast, why don't you come and sit down? I'm sure we can spare something for you"

I gave a light nod. "Aye, thank you"

She smiled extending her hand. "I'm Jacqui"

"I'm..." I paused. "Well I guess I'm Neon"

"You guess? You don't remember?"

I took a quick glance at the group to see them all watching me, an uncomfortable feeling settling in my stomach. "It's the name _bogha_ gave me, guess it'll do for now"

She smiled nodding. "Alright, _**Neon**_"

I grinned lightly nodding and twisting slightly before giving a low whistle. "Come on Spud" I watched the sandy brown and white pitbull poke his head out the car window before jumping down and running over to sit himself by my side.

"No, no, no, no, _**no**_," One of the other men of the group started towards us. "Get rid of the fucking dog now"

I glared lightly at him. "He hasn't done you any harm" I snapped back.

"Not yet it hasn't but if it goes off barking it'll draw the attention of every fucking Walker around here, _**you're**_ risking this entire camp over a stupid animal"

I shook my head lightly. "Spud's not an _**it**_**,** he's a _**he**_," I snapped correcting him, the dog at my side was growling, teeth barred and hackles high. "And _**he's **_saved my life several times, my best goddamn friend too right now," I growled. "So if he's not welcome then neither am I"

"Hey man back off," Daryl stepped between us. "Save my fuckin' life in the city, she hadn't come along when she did I'd be Walker bait"

"I'm not talking to you"

"Shane calm down," He turned storming off as a woman stepped up beside him. "Sorry about that, I'm Lori"

I nodded lightly before introductions were thrown left and right at me as I was steered towards a small camp fire set up, in all honesty it was slightly overwhelming and made me feel pretty awkward with various people staring at me trying to crack just who I was, how I'd survived and what I doing here at their camp.

* * *

I felt almost ill after eating, the food unsettled on my stomach which had become used to having only Military rations and jerky.

"So where are you from?"

I looked up at Dale as he sat down across from me. "Born in Galway, hail from York but currently I'm running out of Boston heading... well... anywhere that's not a city I guess"

"What're you doing this far away from home?"

"Trying to find some people"

He nodded lightly to Spud. "Is he yours or a traveler you picked up along the way?"

I grinned softly. "Picked him up along the way," I stroked Spud's head. "I found him trying to take on a group of Shuffler's..." I paused grasping for the word Daryl had used. "Walk... Walker's? That's what you call them down here right?" I queried and received a nod. "Well whatever you want to call them," I shrugged lightly. "I decided to give him a hand and then shared my last pack of beef jerky with him, been by my side ever since"

He nodded before looking to the RV behind us. "Don't suppose you've got a spare radiator pipe in your car do you?"

I chuckled lightly shaking my head. "No but I can take a look and see what I can do for you if you want," He gave me a confused look. "Auto mechanic, well _**ex**_ auto mechanic now I guess" I clarified before we headed over to the RV.

"So Daryl said you were a pretty good shot"

"Ex marine sniper," I stated before taking the flat head screw driver and beginning to adjust some of the screws. "I was discharged six years ago"

"What happened?"

"I had a..." I hesitated trying to find the right word. "Let's just call it a _**disagreement**_ with my CO at the time, words were said fists flew and I was discharged," I stretched slightly leaning against the grill of the RV before glancing towards Daryl and his brother. "So what's the deal with _bogha_ and that pig he calls a brother?"

Dale looked to Daryl and Merle. "They're like the rest of us, fighting to survive"

I nodded lightly glancing towards Spud who was lapping up the attention of the children that were busy petting him and playing with him.

"Your dog looks like he's having a fun"

I grinned softly. "Aye, he's a real stud," I laughed softly. "My early warning detection system," I glanced over at Dale. "He keeps an eye open when I'm asleep" I explained.

"So have you been traveling alone this entire time?"

I nodded lightly taking the pipe out giving it a good once over. "Aye, just me and Spud"

"Would you consider joining the camp?"

I glanced up at Dale. "With the greeting I got I think it's safe to assume neither of us is welcome here and if Spud can't stay neither am I"

"Shane will understand, he knows we need strong people that can fight and shoot"

I gave a light nod. "That I can do just fine, I can even cook as well, albeit not very well but I can still cook and sow, patched myself up more times than I care to count"

He laughed. "Well I'll talk to Shane and try and sway him towards letting you stay"

I glanced around the camp before shaking my head. "You don't need to, I shouldn't be staying that long anyway, I had only stopped in the city for supplies when I came across _bogha_"

"What is that you keep calling him?"

I grinned laughing softly. "_Bogha_? It's Gaelic for bow," I shrugged lightly glancing over at Daryl. "Suits him all things considered," I examined the pipe again. "Got any duct tape?"

He nodded handing me the roll that had been mostly used. "I'll still talk to Shane; if you stay awhile at least you'll get a better night's sleep than worrying about Walkers coming up behind you while you try and sleep"

I shook my head lightly before weighing it out in my mind and caving. "Alright, but I'm gonna need a place to stay"

"There's plenty of camping equipment that you can borrow"

I gave a nod. "I think all I'll need is a tent, I've got all my own supplies"

He nodded lightly. "No problems about sleeping on the ground then?"

I snorted softly shaking my head. "No complaints from me, not the first time I've slept on the earth and it won't be the last"

He nodded leaving me with the RV before heading off to find Shane.

* * *

More to come soon and thank you to everyone who either reviews and/or adds the story/me to their favourites and/or alerts.


	4. Settling In

******Disclaimer:** The Walking Dead and it's characters belong to their respective owners which is not me but I do however own Neon, Spud and other Characters that are not in the Walking Dead.

**Leyshla Gisel:** Thank you and the update is here.

**GypsyWitchBaby:** Lol thank you.

* * *

**Settling In**

=Neon's P.O.V=

I groaned softly looking over the engine on my 'Am and wiped the oil off my hands and down my jeans. I ached and my mind was running slower than usual, a side effect of no sleep. I took a quick glance around the camp, it wasn't exactly quiet at night, well it hadn't been last night that was for sure, people talked and snored and some even going as far as moaning as they fucked like bunnies during mating season.

I stretched slightly before looking to Carol and Amy as they headed over. "We washed your things for you, hope you don't mind"

"I... Thank you," It wasn't very often I had someone go out of their way to do something for me, I took the dry folded clothing from them and placed it all in the back of the TransAm I was currently working on. "You didn't have to though"

"Yeah we kinda did, that smell," Amy crinkled her nose in disgust. "I don't know _**how**_ you managed to drive with that stench in the car"

I cracked an impish grin. "Aye, I tend to not think about it, makes it easier, plus you know, keeping the windows open usually helps"

There was a brief moment of silence before the three of us broke into laughter. "So are you going to be staying on with us?"

I shrugged lightly. "Don't know yet why?"

"Dale was saying yesterday he was going to talk to Shane about letting you stay on"

I leant against the bonnet of my TransAm wiping my hands on the thighs of my jeans. "I honestly don't know if I _**should**_ stay only reason I stopped in the city was because I needed supplies and to check around"

"Check around?"

I nodded lightly toying with the screwdriver in my hand. "Couple of people, I made a promise to myself that I'd find them dead or alive, hell or high water and if worst came to worst I'd put a bullet in them myself," I glanced towards the engine behind me. "I scoured the entire city, none of them are there"

"So who're you looking for?"

I shook my head lightly turning back to the TransAm's engine. "Doesn't matter, I'll find them eventually" I honestly had no real need or want to tell complete strangers about my family, the family that were somewhere out there in all this shit, I could only assume they were with their father even though he probably turned tail and ran at the first opportunity.

"Well dinner should be ready soon; someone will come and get you when it's ready"

I gave a light nod. "If you need a hand just give me a call"

Both woman nodded before leaving me to finish tinkering around with the TransAm's engine, I'd been trying to tune her up for the past half hour with moderate success, without being able to get her off the ground I couldn't check the damage underneath.

* * *

"Carol told me to come tell you dinner's ready"

I glanced up through the driver's side window at Andrea before nodding. "Aye, I'll be there in a minute," I murmured continuing to roll my cigarette before sliding it behind my ear opting to save it for after I'd finished dinner. "Come on Spud"

The dog lying beside the car shot up and happily trotted after me towards the fire. I took a seat beside Daryl who handed a bowl of some sort of stew to me. "Do I dare ask?"

"Squirrel"

I nodded lightly stirring the steaming liquid round. "Looks good" I murmured softly giving him a light grin.

"So Neon, Dale was saying you came out of Boston, why didn't you head to DC?"

I looked over at Lori and shrugged lightly. "DC and most of the major cities are dead zones, far too risky to go through them"

"I thought DC was supposed to be a safe zone"

I shook my head. "I don't think there are any _'safe zones'_ as people call them, I mean eventually every safe zone get overrun because someone's incompetence shines through at the worst time and they either leave a gate unlocked or don't fix a fence or something along those lines but in saying that if I remember correctly there was a safe zone that was doing alright in Alexandria"

"Was Boston hard hit?"

"Aye, it wasn't a pretty sight trying to haul ass out of there but I managed to get out"

"How'd you get out?"

"Great skill and determination," I shrugged lightly. "I stuck to all the back road routes, the fuckin' highways are a death trap layered in icing, they're all backed up with abandoned cars and crashed eighteen wheelers, I've done my best to avoid them so far and only on the very rarest of occasions use them" I put the bowl down on the ground patting Spud's head and giving him the ok to eat the other half of my dinner.

I handed the empty bowl to Carol as Spud finished with it and made a move to stand and excuse myself so I could finish with my TransAm.

"Dale said you're thinkin' about staying"

I glanced to Shane and shrugged. "Wasn't my intention nor my idea but now that I've thought about it the pros are outweighing the cons slightly"

Lori snorted softly. "Only _**slightly**_?"

"Well you can stay," Shane stated, a reluctance in his voice. "But only on one condition," He motioned to Spud. "The dog goes"

I looked to Spud. "Told you yesterday morning, if Spud's not welcome then neither am I," I stated reining back my annoyance before it turned to anger. "So the hospitality was great but I'll be going now" I turned towards my 'Am and started towards it with Spud.

"Don't be a dick man, she'd be an asset to this camp," Daryl stated causing me to stall slightly and turn back to the group, of all the people to stick up for me I would have thought he'd have been the last. "She's an ex marine sniper," I felt all the eyes fall on me. "Not like any of these bitches can shoot for shit and you keep goin' on about how we need more people to defend the camp and she could"

"Don't need _**women**_ that can shoot"

I snorted softly and shook my head. "So the world turns to shit and men start turning into chauvinistic pigs," I laughed coldly. "That's fuckin' rich"

"As much as I don't like agreeing with Daryl this time he's right, we need more able bodied people to defend the camp and she's a mechanic too, she can help keep all the vehicles in working order, lord knows it's hard enough for Jim and I to keep the RV going" Dale spoke up in my defense.

"Let her stay Shane, it's too dangerous out there alone, plus it will ease the load on all of us having someone else to help out with watch duties and the other chores," Andrea motioned to Daryl. "It'll even take the pressure off Dixon if she can hunt"

I gave a nod. "I grew up on a farm on England's moors, hunting's part of the way of life out there," I motioned to the 'Am. "Plus I've got a compound bow, no noise to attract Walker's"

"What else have you got in your car?" Shane narrowed his eyes.

"Clothing, some food, bits and pieces," I shrugged lightly. "An impressive arsenal of melee and ranged weapons and ammo to go with them"

"If you're going to be part of the camp you're going to have to pull your weight and pool your resources with ours"

I rolled my eyes. "I was planning on ditching what ammo I didn't need with you before I left," I growled. "Didn't think I'd just up and leave without some sort of thank you did you?" I snorted softly shaking my head. "Just 'cause the worlds turned to shit doesn't mean people have to lose their manners too"

"I still want the dog gone"

"For the last time his names _**Spud**_ and in all honesty the camp would be safer _**with**_ him than _**without**_ him, he can smell those Walker's coming from a mile off"

"Look why don't we take it to a vote? See how many people want Neon _**and**_ Spud to stay and how many are against them staying" Dale queried before looking around the group, a fair few of them giving nods or yeses saying they wanted me to stay and only a few saying they wanted me gone.

"I think that settles it doesn't it? Majority rules," Dale motioned to the group. "Nearly everyone can see the benefits of having her stay on with us, more guns, more protection and someone not afraid of putting in the hard work"

"Fine" Shane groused before getting up and walking off with the shotgun he always had on hand.

I felt almost uncomfortable for a moment. "I'll be working on my 'Am" I motioned to the car sitting with its bonnet up before heading towards it, I could feel all their eyes on me and it was making me more than uncomfortable, made me want to run far, just bundle up and bug out before they could say another word about it.

* * *

I'm having technical and writing issues at the moment so it's hard to get things posted but I am still here and I am still updating whenever I can, it may just take a bit longer than usual. I have finished my **Horsepower VS Irish Hardware** fic so it'll give me more time to work on all my others including this one, next chap will have lots of fun in it and by fun I mean Neon pulling out a gun on someone and telling them to back the fuck off and a good dose of good old sarcasm from her.


	5. A Clip Worth

**Disclaimer:** The Walking Dead and it's characters belong to their respective owners which is not me but I do however own Neon, Spud and other Characters that are not in the Walking Dead.

**GypsyWitchBaby:** I honestly hadn't thought about what part but she's part Irish so south Boston. Spud definitely has to stay, he's the only thing that's constant for Neon, he's what keeps her (mostly) sane.

**Leyshla Gisel:** I know, me too, did you hear about the alternative scene for Rick killing him? I won't say too much encase you haven't but it would have made shit very interesting. Calm and collected is her way, ex military, rank, well that's a secret for now but her military career will play a big part in the next story I know that much.

* * *

**A Clip Worth**

=Neon's P.O.V=

I stretched slightly, the tent was chilly at best but Spud served as my own personal hot water bottle, I looked to the dog curled up under the blanket with me and cuddled him closer stroking his good ear idly before turning my attention back to the book I'd been reading, some half way pathetic sappy romance novel that was only serving to occupy my mind since sleep had failed to embrace me, the camp was actually fairly noisy, well compared to what I was used to it was noisy, usually it was just me, Spud, our own breathing and the sounds of the dead depending on where we decided to bunker down.

I instinctively reached for my desert eagle as a shadow passed outside the tent; it stopped outside the door moving to open it. I exhaled shifting onto my knees gripping the desert eagle, Spud beside me ready to launch into an attack at any given moment.

I clicked the safety back on seeing Daryl's face. "You're a fuckin' idiot," I murmured shaking my head before rubbing at my eyes. "What's the fuckin' time?"

"Some time before dawn," He shrugged. "Come on"

I turned away from him stripping off the faded button up shirt I'd been wearing to sleep in and dumped it to one side before grabbing a tank top and a checkered flannel shirt before quickly yanked on a pair of faded grey skinny jeans jamming my feet into my combat boots lacing them tight and crawled out of the tent grabbing my compound bow and quiver on the way out.

I strapped my holster back onto my thigh as I straightened out my clothing and jammed my desert eagle back into the holster. Spud racing off to pee against a nearby tree as I zipped up my tent. "Where're we going?"

"Hunt some breakfast" He stated before leading the way into the undergrowth.

I couldn't help but wonder _why_ all the hunting fell to him to do, no one else seemed to ever join him to do it but then again I was under the impression that not a lot of the camp liked Daryl or his brother Merle, not that I could really blame him, his brother was a jackass and a half and I honestly wouldn't think twice about tripping him to save myself from a horde.

"So _bogha_, why don't you pass the buck onto someone else?"

"Huh?" He looked almost confused for a moment.

"You know, why don't you make someone else do all the hunting?" I clarified.

He snorted laughing. "You think any of those assholes know the first thing about huntin'?"

I stalled lightly, he _did_ have a point, they all seemed the be the city and suburban types, not used to the hard labour of farm work or having to actually kill and skin dinner themselves. "Ok, you've got a valid point there"

He nodded pushing through the trees, Spud trailing along beside me quite happily marking his territory here and there before running to catch up with us. "You said you grew up on a farm, know how to skin?"

I nodded lightly twirling the arrow around my fingers before loading it as I saw a movement out the corner of my eye and grinned drawing back the string before firing at the squirrel that was trying to scamper away from a tree. "Spud," I jerked my head towards the squirrel. "Fetch"

He rushed towards it trotting back quite happily with it in his mouth and dumped it at my feet. I pulled the arrow free throwing the dead animal at Daryl before beginning to twirl the arrow again after patting Spud's head. "Good boy," I murmured. "So where the hell's your brother this morning? Don't you usually go hunting with him?"

"Fucked if I know," There was a brief silence between us that he he broke. "You really think you're going to find the people you're lookin' for?"

I shrugged lightly. "Gotta try don't I? I mean I can't just give up, it'll eat me alive from the inside if I don't"

"Who are they?"

I opened my mouth for a second before closing it and exhaling slowly shaking my head lightly. "Doesn't matter"

"Gotta matter if you risked goin' through an entire city of geeks to find them"

I stalled slightly and idly toyed with the end of the rosary around my neck before tugging a photo out of my back pocket and handed it to him before watching as he unfolded it and looked up questioning. "They're my family, my son and daughter," I murmured. "Connor and Amelia," I had memorized the photo after so many long nights of looking at it, it was of the three of us with my TransAm just after I'd finished it, I was sitting on the edge of the bonnet with Amelia in front of me and Josh was beside us, an arm thrown carelessly around my neck. "They're my reason to keep living"

"Shit, man how old are you? That kid looks at least fuckin' nineteen"

I narrowed my eyes at him and backhanded his shoulder. "I'm only thirty four thank you very much, Connor is seventeen and Amelia's eight, I was only seventeen when I had Connor"

"So you gonna keep goin' till you find them then?"

I nodded. "Gonna keep myself alive until I see them," I swallowed roughly. "Dead or alive, I'll find them"

"What makes you think that they're even alive anymore?"

I shrugged lightly following him through the undergrowth pushing it out of my way. "It's called blind hope mixed in with a bit of faith and determination," I grinned softly. "And a mother intuition, I can feel it here," I tapped the spot over my heart. "And I know it in here," I tapped my temple. "Plus I taught my son everything he knows, he knows how to survive and he would never let Amelia come to any harm, he'll protect her until his dying breath"

"Don't think they're with their dad?"

I shook my head. "Clayton was about as useful as tits on a fuckin' nun," I snorted softly. "Only married me because his mother kept naggin' him to settle down and that his son needed a steady home since I was off fighting all the time," I shook my head lightly. "Can't believe I agreed to marry that pig," I spat before taking aim at another squirrel. "He'd have been the first one out of the city when the epidemic hit," I laughed softly firing my arrow as the squirrel stood up on its hind legs. "He had two children with me and god knows how many others," I stated collecting my kill. "I finally kicked him out when I came home one night and found him with some bleach blonde piece of tits and arse in our bed," I smirked lightly. "Kicked both of them out naked and threw their clothes in some frigid water, fuck his face was priceless when I wouldn't let him back in," I glanced out the corner of my eye at him. "It was the middle of winter so his balls turned an interesting shade of blue"

Daryl started laughing as he fixed the squirrel onto his string of them. "Just by his name he sounds like an asshole," He snorted lightly shaking his head aiming his crossbow at a Walker that was just standing around before gathering the arrow from its eye socket shaking off the rotting eyeball before checking the ground around it. "There's a fuckin' deer out here"

"Really?" I knelt beside him looking at the tracks. "Think it's been bit?"

He shrugged lightly. "I'll track it later after we have some grub"

I nodded lightly pushing myself up wincing at the ghost pain through my right leg. "Would make for a better meal than the last few nights, that shit's made my stomach unsettled"

He laughed. "What? You got a weak stomach or something?"

I gave him a deadpan look. "I've been living off jerky and military rations, not exactly a great menu and to suddenly be having semi decent food again it's giving me stomach ache"

"Then you won't wanna eat raw squirrel will you?"

I blinked wondering if he was serious. "Honestly?" He nodded. "No I'm all good but you go right ahead, I'm sure Spud would also love to share my half of the meal with you"

He tugged one of the squirrels off his string of squirrels as we settled on a fallen tree. "You think animal can get this shit if they get bit?"

I shrugged lightly. "I don't know, I mean in Atlanta I saw plenty of dogs chowing down on the dead and Shuffler's and plenty being chowed upon by them, it didn't _**seem**_ to affect them," I nodded to Spud. "And he's helped me take down more than one, ripped chunks out of them and never showed any signs of rabies or this disease," I looked to Daryl. "Best not mention that one to Shane otherwise he'll put a gun to him"

Daryl nodded. "Na I won't mention it, the guys a fuckin' ass anyway"

I nodded lightly. "I've been meaning to ask, what's up between him and Lori? She his wife or somethin' or just his little play thing? I keep seeing them sneaking around with each other whenever I'm on watch duty"

He snorted softly throwing a squirrel at Spud. "Beats me, only fuckin' as far as I know" He shook his head lightly.

"Thought she was married to someone else?"

"It's a big fuck up, her husband's supposedly dead, at least that's what she said Shane told her, so she's gettin' him to keep her warm at night," Daryl shook his head. "Pretty sure they think no one knows but it ain't that hard to hear them at night and they keep sneakin' off together too, could probably bet that everyone knows they're fuckin'"

I grinned impishly. "Didn't take you as a gossip whore _bogha_"

"I ain't but it's hard not to listen to them all talkin' when their five feet away," He shrugged lightly. "Besides they don't pay me no fuckin' attention, don't even realize I'm there half the time," He threw the squirrel carcass to Spud and wiped his hands down his thighs. "They only realize Merle's there 'cause of his big fuckin' mouth"

"So I've seen, no one really seems to like the two of you," My comment was just an idle thought I decided to lend my voice too. "How'd you end up with the group anyway?"

"Me and Merle joined up with Dale, Andrea and her sister on the highway when we were trying to get into Atlanta, watched 'em bomb the city before we joined up with Shane and Lori"

I nodded rolling my shoulders and cracking my neck slightly before stretching out my fingers and flexing them as I watched the sun rise higher into the sky; it would be another blistering day.

* * *

I let my eyes scan over the quarry as I sat trying to clear my head away from the rest of the camp, my compound bow next to me encase I needed it. I sighed softly watching the birds fly across the sky towards the city before stretching, it was difficult adjusting to being a part of a group, this entire camp was like one big family almost, they were all close to each other but at the same time all had their own little groups and I was the odd one out, the one that would never fit in.

I looked to the photo in my hand and smiled softly before sighing and looking skyward before clutching the old family heirloom rosary around my neck, I wasn't religious at all, hadn't been for years and my lack of faith would have my father rolling over in his grave.

I glanced over the vista before me again and sighed softly, I'd been left with nothing to do, Daryl had disappeared off to track that damn deer and would probably be gone for the next day or so and Glenn had taken Jacqui, T-Dog, Morales, Andrea and Merle into the city to scavenge up some supplies.

I tucked the photo back into my pocket and stood quickly grabbing my bow as Shane stormed over.

"What the fuck are you doing? You trying to get bit?" He snarled. "You didn't tell anyone where you fucking went"

I growled lowly. "I needed a half hour to gather some thought's, that a fuckin' problem?" I snapped back before heading back towards the RV and the camp. I was trying to keep cool, trying to remember what I'd been taught in officer training about keeping a level head when you had some jack off trying to get a rise out of you.

As soon as I arrive Spud raced over his short tail wagging happily as I patted the top of his head.

"You need to fucking tell someone if you're going to wander off" Shane snapped grabbing my arm, his grip quickly leaving as Spud's hackles went up and he lunged at him, teeth snapping at his ankles before his gun was pointed towards him.

I drew my desert eagle pointing it at him, safety flicked of in an instant. "Don't you _**dare**_ threaten Spud" A dangerous threat laced my words.

"Fucking dogs dangerous, it'll kill someone," He spat. "Should just put it out of its misery right now"

I narrowed my eyes at Shane, finger resting on the trigger. "You threaten my dog again and I unload this _**entire**_ clip into your thick fuckin' skull and leave your rotting corpse for the Shufflers" I stated very slowly with a cold snap.

Spud was stood in front of me shielding me from him, hackles up high, lips curled back barring all his teeth at the man in front of us threatening us.

"There's no need for this," Dale stepped between us, his fingers tipping the barrel of my desert eagle down as he pushed Shane's gun away from Spud. "Is there really?"

I glared darkly at Shane clicking the safety back on and nudged Spud with my foot giving a light jerk of my head as a signal to back off. "You threaten my dog again Walsh and I won't hesitate in filling that thick fuckin' skull of yours with bullets," I snarled spinning on my foot and heading off away from the camp with Spud in tow. "I'm going for a walk" I called over my shoulder not bothering to rein in the sarcasm before smirking lightly and heading down the road that led to the bottom of the quarry.

* * *

So my lovelies, apparently the scripts for Episode 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Season 3 got leaked, I've had a squizz at them via the Walking Dead Wiki page and believe that they may be complete BS but head on over there if you want to have a look at them, some things sound believable and others don't like a whole bunch of mistakes regarding things that were left behind or with someone else etc... other than that I've been busy working on some art for the story, putting the finishing touches onto one of Spud.


	6. Sleepless Nights Alone

**Disclaimer:** The Walking Dead and it's characters belong to their respective owners which is not me but I do however own Neon, Spud and other Characters that are not in the Walking Dead.

**GypsyWitchBaby:** Oh yeah, plenty of rivalry to be had between Shane and Neon, they're two very different people with two very strong personalities plus she's a hardened soldier who doesn't take to kindly to people telling her what to do.

**Madzilla1075:** Thank you, if you spot anything just give me a shout.

**Leyshla Gisel:** Thank you, if I remember correctly I found it on a discussion page on TWD Wikia page or at least the link to it was on there.

* * *

**Sleepless Nights Alone**

=Neon's P.O.V=

I looked towards Dale as a siren blared through the quarry echoing off all the stone walls. _That sounds like a fucking car alarm._ I glanced to Spud patting his head lightly before looking to the red Dodge Challenger that pulled up. "Well I'll be damned, short and brainy got a car" I grinned softly before looking at the others yelling at him to turn it off.

"Yeah, everyone's fine," He answered to the questions being thrown at him before glancing off to the side. "Well, Merle not so much"

I shook my head lightly. _Daryl's not going to like that._

"Are you crazy driving this wailin' bastard up here?"

I rolled my eyes lightly stretching and running my eyes over the car wondering if I could salvage some bits from it for my 'Am. I moved my eyes over to the truck that pulled up behind one of the SUV's and glanced to Spud before stroking the top of his head.

"Sorry," He seemed genuinely hurt. "I got a cool car" He motioned to the bright red Challenger.

"Lay off him, those brainless fucks won't know where the sound was coming from; they're probably following their next meal by now anyway"

Shane shot me a glare before moving his eyes towards the truck.

I watched Morales reunite with his family and the two sisters reunite as well.

"How'd you all get out of there anyway?"

"New guy, he got us out"

"New guy?" The majority of us queried before looking towards the truck, it was obvious by the look on Shane's face that this was someone he knew.

"Dad! Dad!"

I slipped back slightly watching the new addition to our group kneel down hugging Carl, tears streaming down their faces. _So this is Rick huh?_ I looked to Shane before shaking my head lightly watching. _Shit just got interesting._ I turned away from the happy family reunion, my own heart crying out at being unable to hug my own son and daughter like that; I fingered the rosary beads around my neck thinking about the last time we'd talked.

"_Come on Ma, you've gotta teach me"_

_I rolled my eyes lightly from under the worn out jeep I was working on. "Connor, I'm covered in oil and in the middle of changing some poor saps oil filter right now and your Da will be here to get you and Amelia in a half hour"_

"_Please," He pleaded. "If not I'll get Uncle Quinn to teach me"_

_I rolled my eyes again at the mention of my twin brother and my sons poor attempt at blackmail. "Your uncle doesn't know shit about bows"_

"_Exactly!" Connor cried out. "That's why I want __**you**__ to teach me besides you never know when the zombie apocalypse might strike!"_

_I rolled my eyes. "That's never going to happen, not in my lifetime or yours probably," I turned away from the dripping oil. "If it does I'll buy you a Remington seven hundred"_

"_Really?"_

"_Yes" I growled in frustration at slammed the wrench against the underside of chassis._

"_So back on topic about teaching me archery..."_

_I sighed sliding out from under the jeep and looked to my son. "Alright but when you get back from your Da's, I'll take you out and we can go shooting"_

_A broad grin slipped onto his lips before he hugged me tight. "Thanks Ma"_

"_Aye, just don't go telling your Da about it, he thinks I'm bad enough as it is," I sighed softly wiping my greasy hands on a rag. "Now where's your sister?"_

_He nodded to the office. "She's working on something for you" He grinned._

_I nodded lightly throwing the rag at him grinning before heading into the office. "Darlin', Connor said you were working on something for me"_

_Amelia quickly covered the picture on the desk with her hands obscuring my view. "I don't want you to see it yet Ma"_

_I laughed softly smoothing out her bright red hair and nodded. "Alright, Alright, I won't peak I promise," I grinned giving her a wink. "Da's going to be here soon to pick you up, you got everything ready?"_

_She nodded rapidly going back to her picture as I shifted around her to use the computer. "Do we have to stay with Da? I don't like going to Atlanta, I like staying in Boston with you and Uncle Quinn"_

"_Sorry gorgeous," I gave her my best smile. "But your Da wants you to stay with him for the last week of these holidays"_

_She pouted folding her arms over her chest. "I don't wanna go"_

"_You've got to Amelia," I sighed kneeling in front of the chair and wiped away a tear from her cheek leaving a smudge of grease down her face. "Your Da is trying to make things work, he wants to be in your life, at least give him a shot"_

_She pouted even further before nodding. "Ok"_

_I grinned placing a kiss to her cheek. "That's my girl," I grinned lightly ruffling her hair slightly. "Tell you what," I unhooked my dog tags from around my neck and linked them around hers. "You can give these back to me once you home alright?" I stood as she nodded excitedly and glanced to the door as Clayton walked in, that goddamn cocky smirk on his face as he tugged off his sunnies._

"_So where're my two brats then?"_

_I rolled my eyes lightly before giving a sharp whistle. "Connor get in here," I looked to Amelia and forced a smile to my lips. "It'll only be a week gorgeous and then you and Connor can come home back to Boston"_

_She nodded trying to swipe at her tears and appear strong. "I love you Ma"_

"_Love you to firecracker," I looked to Connor and grinned softly. "Take care of your sister and I'll keep that promise"_

"_Of course I'll take care of her Ma; we'll see you in a week"_

_I nodded lightly. "And if I have to come up there because you got shitfaced there'll be hell to pay laddie boy"_

_He laughed giving a wave over his shoulder before they both followed Clayton out to his expensive SUV._

_I shook my head lightly before looking to the picture on the desk and smiled lightly picking it up, it was the four of us, Connor, Amelia, Quinn and I all standing in front of a house with a white picket fence and a dog._

I looked to Spud and patted his head lightly before retreating away from the group after introductions were made; I had no want or need to stay around them right now, not when I wouldn't be able to keep my emotions in check.

* * *

I curled around Spud staring at the photo of my two children and sighed softly, Amelia had bright fire engine red hair, a true Irish red, a trait from my side of the family; every woman, with me being the exception, had bright fire engine red hair, I however had taken after my father, deep brunette hair that I'd passed onto Connor but both had the dominant gun metal grey irises that I bore, neither looked anything like Clayton and everything like me. I couldn't help but grin when I thought about it, my genetics were the stronger, they were the dominant genes that our children had and his the weaker, the recessive genes.

I pulled out the picture Amelia had drawn the day before she'd left to Atlanta and smiled sadly at it whisking away a few stray tears as they came to my eyes.

Spud whined softly nudging my cheek and licked lightly at the tears, we'd retreated after dinner to the safety of the tent, I didn't want to be surrounded by a lot of people for the moment, not when I wanted to scream and cry for my children.

I stroked Spud's head lightly and sighed choking back another quiet sob, Spud trying to his best comfort me unsure of what exactly was going on around him. "I'm sorry buddy," I sighed softly before using the light from a small torch on keychain to find my book and continue reading, sleep was going to be the ever elusive bitch she had been for the past few nights and all I could do was occupy my mind until morning came and I could only assume one hell of a shit storm would come with it over Daryl's brother being left cuffed to a rooftop. "Get some sleep Spud because I sure as hell ain't going to be able to"

* * *

Right, now if you haven't had a look at my DA account then you probably should because there's some pics up there of Spud and Neon's TransAm, I'll have more up there soon.


	7. Defence for the Defenceless

**Disclaimer: **The Walking Dead and it's characters belong to their respective owners which is not me but I do however own Neon, Spud and other Characters that are not in the Walking Dead.

Ok lovelies, so I'm back on this site now, I've been through a bit of RL shit recently and now I'm slowly getting better, I did plan on coming back a little while ago but RL got in the way, I have all my stories posted over on AO3 (Archive of our own), I'll be posting there first and updating here within a few days, right now I'm just going through and updating all my stories to the points that they're at on that site.

* * *

**Defence for the Defenceless**

=Neon's P.O.V=

I jerked away from the engine of the RV as I heard the screams and rushed towards them with Spud in tow before witnessing a deer being gnawed upon by a Walker. _Fuck, this place isn't safe anymore._ Spud growled gnashing his teeth at the Walker, hackles raised with a deep growl emitting from his chest.

"Spud" I called him down and watched Rick, Shane, Morales, Jim and Glenn attack it before Dale lobbed off its head with a fire axe. _Got to nail it in the head._ I shook my head before looking up towards the trees as they rustled, I glanced at Spud, his hackles were lowering, tail wagging slightly as he put his nose in the air and quivered slightly.

"Son of a bitch," Daryl growled coming from the trees. "That's my deer," He snapped glaring at the half chewed deer carcass. "Look at it all gnawed on by this filthy, disease bearing, motherless poxy bastard" He growled out between his teeth kicking the headless corpse for all it's worth.

"Calm down son that's not helping"

Spud stepped back out the way as the angered Dixon brother rounded the corpse towards Dale. "What do you know about it old man?" He snapped. "Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to _'on golden pond'_?"

I shook my head lightly. _Well today just got more interesting, good luck trying to tell him about Merle._

Daryl gave a sigh ripping the crossbow bolts from the deer's hide. "I've been trackin' this deer for miles," He stated ripping out the last one. "Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison," He looked it over quickly before motioning to its open throat. "What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?" He asked looking around for people approval.

"I would not risk that"

She sighed again. "That's a damn shame, I got us some squirrel," He motioned to the string over his shoulder. "About a dozen or so, that'll have to do"

I looked to the deer before looking to Spud as he eyed it hungrily; I knelt down grinning softly and scratched his ear. "Tell you what I'll cut out a chunk for you later and you can even have a leg too, "I murmured into his ear kissing it lightly, his tail going even faster than before. "But **_after_** everyone fucks off"

Spud growled snapping at the head before it opened its eyes, its mouth opening and closing causing it to roll from side to side.

"Come on people what the hell," Daryl shot an arrow into its eye. "It's gotta be the brain, don't ya'll know nothin'?"

I stood wincing at the pressure on my right knee joint and started back towards the camp with Spud in tow, it was laundry day today which meant going round the _entire_ camp and finding everyone's dirty laundry before scrubbing it to death on a washboard and trying to dry it in the sun from the clotheslines strung between trees.

"Merle get your ugly ass out here," Daryl called out. "Got us some squirrel"

I glanced towards Shane and Rick as they started towards Daryl. "This is going to be a fuckin' big ball of flaming shit" I murmured lowly leaning against the front fender of my TransAm before watching the scene unfold as I lit a cigarette, it went from calm to Daryl's tornado fury in a matter of seconds causing Shane to grab him in a choke hold.

I pushed myself off the fender and started towards them before nudging Rick aside and kneeling in front of Daryl looking him in the eyes. "_Bogha_ you know exactly what your brother's like, he can fly off the handles, just like **_you_** can," I grabbed the hunting knife from the ground. "Now stow that bullshit and just fuckin' listen to what they've got to say," I waited for an answer and received a jerking nod before handing the knife back to him as Shane let him go pushing him roughly. "Attack him and Spud's feasting on your balls tonight" I added lowly stepping back out of the way.

"What I did was not on a whim; your brother does not work and play well with others"

"It's not Rick's fault," T-Dog stated stepping forward. "I had the key, I dropped it"

"You couldn't pick it up?"

"I dropped it down a drain"

Daryl snorted lightly before standing. "If it's supposed to make me feel better it don't"

"Maybe this will, I chained the door to the roof shut, so the geeks couldn't get at him, with a padlock"

The younger of the Dixon's looked away wiping the sweat out of his eyes. "Hell with all ya'll, just tell me where he is so's I can go get him" There was an almost pathetic whine in his voice.

I glanced over the group watching as they came to the quick decision of heading back into the city, I looked to Daryl grinning softly giving him a wink before scratching Spud's head.

"You alrigh'?"

I nodded lightly. "Just been thinking," I rolled my shoulders lightly trying to relieve the kink in them. "I know it's hazardous for my health," I grinned weakly. "Be careful out there _bogha,_ I'm not coming out to save your arse again if you get chased by those undead freaks"

He snorted. "Don't need you to save me again Neon, ain't nothin' takin' me down"

I rolled my eyes slapping his shoulder lightly. "Aye, go get 'em tiger" I laughed softly before turning away and heading towards Carol to help out with gathering the laundry.

* * *

I stood in the shallows of the water, a pair of woodland camo cargo pants I'd ripped into shorts with a loose black tank top on, Jacqui, Andrea, Carol and Amy in front of me as we worked on the laundry, behind me was Shane with Carl trying to catch frogs and behind the others was Ed watching us sucking on a cigarette.

I rolled my eyes fishing out my own cigarettes and threw them back to Andrea who put them back in my hoodie pocket along with my lighter after I'd lit my cigarette. I inhaled deeply filling my lungs with the asinine smoke before smiling and exhaling between my teeth waiting for someone to hand me something to wring out.

"Can someone explain to me how the women wound up doing all the Hattie McDaniel work?" Jacqui asked keeping her tone low so none of the others except us could hear.

"The world ended, didn't you get the memo?"

I took a drag on my cigarette as caught the item of clothing Andrea threw to me before beginning to wring it out. "Shit happens and it throws us back about a hundred or so years," I shrugged lightly. "It's like living in the eighteen fifties again," I stated sucking in another lungful of smoke blowing it out off to the side as I handed the clothing to Jacqui. "Woman can do all the housework and hard labour, you know, cook, clean, do the laundry, look after the children but they can't do anything the big burly men should do," I snorted softly. "Not allowed to hunt, not allowed to handle a gun, not allowed to do numerous other things," I started wringing out another piece of clothing before looking up at Ed. "Like him," I jerked my head towards him. "He's fuckin' sitting there watching us like we're bitches on parade instead of getting off his fat ass and helping us," I glanced to Carol. "Forgive me but he's pissing me off as is shithead back there too" I jerked my head towards Shane who was somewhere behind me with Carl.

Carol smiled before shrugging lightly. "It's alright," She said softly before changing the subject. "I do miss my maytag"

"I miss my Benz, my SatNav"

"I miss my coffeemaker with that dual drip filter and built in grinder honey" Jacqui smiled wringing out a shirt.

"My computer and texting"

I grinned lightly shaking my head lightly. "I miss music and funnily enough working," I sighed softly. "Fuck I know I used to complain but goddamn it was a shit load easier than this"

There was a soft hum between all of us in agreement.

"I miss my vibrator"

There was a brief silence before we all burst out laughing; Carol took a glance back at her husband before lowering her head and smiling. "Me too" The laughter this time was louder causing Ed to come down.

"What's so funny?"

I rolled my eyes lightly handing another piece of clothing to Jacqui before glancing to the sky wondering if it would clear up enough to dry the clothing at all today.

"Got a problem Ed?"

"None that concerns you," He glared at Andrea. "And you ought to focus on your work," His attention directed at Carol. "This ain't no comedy club"

I bit my tongue before looking to Spud who was happily chasing his reflection in the water and grinned watching him before shifting and kicking water at him, spooking him slightly. "Quit playing with yourself Spud"

He gave a whine cocking his head at me and bounded over splashing water down me before standing there with his stumpy tail wagging.

I shook my head laughing and whisked away the water from my face after handing Jacqui some more clothing for drying.

"Ed tell you what," Andrea stood heading towards him. "You don't like how your laundry is done you are welcome to pitch in and do it yourself," She threw the wet clothing to him. "Here"

He threw it right back hitting her in the chest and face. "Ain't my job missy"

I shifted quickly, Spud's hackles beginning to rise, I shot him a look and watched him stand on guard, the smallest signal and he'd launch into a brutal full on attack.

"What is your job Ed?" Andrea queried. "Sitting on your ass smoking cigarettes?"

"Well it sure as hell ain't listening to some uppity smart mouthed bitch," He looked past Andrea to Carol. "Come on, let's go"

I shifted forward situating myself between him and everyone else. "Do us all a fuckin' favour and fuck off," I jerked my head towards the camp. "We don't need you sitting here watching over us, we're not children," I glanced back at Carol. "And Carol sure as shit doesn't need to go anywhere with you, she ain't a fuckin' dog"

"And I say it's ain't any of your business," He glared looking past me at Carol. "Come on now or you'll regret it later"

I shook my head lightly making sure to stay between the two of them. "You fuckin' lay a hand on her and I'll fuckin' gut you and swing you from a tree myself" I snarled taking a threatening step forward, fists clenched, I glanced back as Carol's hand wrapped around my wrist, she shook her head lightly signalling she'd go with him.

"You don't want to keep proddin' the bull here, ok? Now I am done talkin'"

I rolled my eyes, Carol's grip tightening around my wrist as Ed grabbed her. "Let her go," I snarled, Spud waiting on my command. "I said fuckin' let her go" I yelled out when he failed to listen. The bones in my neck clicked and blood began to roll down my chin from the split in my lip before using my free hand to deliver my own heavy blow to Ed's gut before slamming my elbow against his cheek as he doubled over.

Ed stumbled for a moment before standing up straight, Carol's grip around my wrist only serving to tighten again out of fear that we'd both end up beaten instead of just her.

I was ready for another blow until Shane took Ed down slamming him into the ground and laying into him. _Shit._ I linked my hand through Carol's stopping her from intervening and getting hurt by Shane is his postal rage, I let her hand go as he stood leaving Ed bloodied on the ground before looking at us panting and walking off. _Jesus and I thought __**I**__ was bad._


	8. Bloodbath

**Disclaimer: **The Walking Dead and it's characters belong to their respective owners which is not me but I do however own Neon, Spud and other Characters that are not in the Walking Dead.

* * *

**Bloodbath**

=Neon's P.O.V=

I glanced at Spud; the sandy brown pitbull was on edge. "What's up handsome?" I murmured scratching his head as I relaxed back by the fire with the others.

Spud turned his head away from me before looking to the wooded area and whining softly, he stood pacing slightly before settling down again, his eyes never leaving the woods surrounding the small camp.

I frowned lightly pulling my S&W from my hip and checking the chambers before double checking to make sure I had a full clip for my desert eagle too.

"What the hell are you doing?"

I glanced up to find nearly everyone's eyes on me before I nodded silently to Spud who was watching the tents with interest. "Something's out there and it does not bode well," I murmured standing slightly before heading over to Spud and kneeling down peering into the darkness unable to see through the trees. "What is it?"

The group behind us had gone back to eating and talking, an unsettling feeling resting in my stomach as he began to growl, lips peeled back showing off his impressive display of strong vicious teeth. I cocked my S&W readying it encase it was what I thought and turned on my heel at the sound of Amy's screams.

My first shot hit home between the eyes of one ugly patchy bastard, the next shot ringing out and hitting another Shuffler between the eyes, I loved my Stealth hunter with a passion but it sucked ass in a fight like this; it could, after all, only hold six rounds but six well placed head shots were better than an entire clip worth of shitty chest rounds.

I swapped for my desert eagle before giving Spud the go ahead and letting off several more precisely aimed head shots, Spud rushing at one Shuffler taking it down and tearing at its face before turning to bring down another coming up behind him, my well placed shots hitting each between the eyes continued to ring off shots before replacing the spent clip with a full one and started letting off head shots again. It was how Spud and I worked, as a team, he could drag the Shufflers down, maim them and slow them down giving me enough time to put a round or blade through their skulls.

"Spud" I jerked my head towards the group before letting off a few rounds as Spud raced over attacking a Shuffler near Lori and Carl, he tore at its legs dragging it away from them before a round was put through its skull.

I grabbed at one of the wrenches that had been left lying around and swung at the Shuffler trying to sneak up beside me, Spud tore at its throat as I swung at its head again crushing its skull into its brain.

I grinned lightly praising Spud before hearing a shot ring off from the back of the camp. "Looks like the cavalry arrived bud," I surveyed the small war zone in front of me. "And about time too"

I swung at another Shuffler taking it down before crushing its skull into its brain with a heavy curb stomp and raising my desert eagle taking another few shots at the Shufflers approaching the RV, Spud stood on guard, hackles raised and snarling as the gunshot died down as did the screams.

I moved away from the group by the RV and chucked the Spanner back towards the toolbox wiping the blood from my hands down my jeans, both clips for my desert eagle spent and the six shot chamber of my S&W only holding empty shells.

I leant against my TransAm's door and exhaled heavily looking to Spud before grinning and patting his head. "Atta boy," I murmured breathlessly before looking up to find Daryl looking around. "Find your brother _bogha_?"

He shook his head lightly coming to stand in front of me. "Found his hand instead"

I nodded whisking away the sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand, my cheek still tender from the backhand Ed had given me.

"What the fuck happened to you?" Daryl asked tipping my face up to get a better look. "Run into a fuckin' tree or something?" He asked wiping at the flecks of blood across my bruised cheek and then carefully ran his thumb over the split in my lip before looking up in question at the unanswered question.

I pushed away his hand gently and grinned softly. "Doesn't matter, I've had worse" I muttered softly before placing a hand lightly on his cheek whisking away a droplet of blood.

"Fuck that, what happened?" He growled lowly batting my hand away checking the bruise that had begun to form on my cheek again, I knew a shadow had begun forming around my eye after checking the wing mirror of the RV after Lori had helped me wash the blood off my face.

"Words were said, I got back handed, Shane went postal on Ed," I shrugged lightly. "Honestly though I've had worse than being back handed by a pig like him" I rolled my shoulders trying to ease the tension in them, fear settled in the back of my mind over Connor and Amelia.

I slumped down against the front wheel of my 'Am and exhaled heavily, body and breathing shaky from the adrenaline coursing through my veins making me hyper aware of everyone and everything around me including Daryl who was sitting next to me on the ground. "Is it wrong I want to get completely shitface drunk now?"

He snorted lightly. "Sounds like a plan"

I nodded lightly. "Only our plan lacks the one crucial component," I murmured before seeing his confusion. "Alcohol," I stated. "Can't get drunk on the air," I stated scratching at Spud who had situated himself at my feet as I glanced around the chaos around the camp. "I think I will sleep in the 'Am," I snorted lightly. "That's if I sleep at all"

"What you scared?" He laughed harshly in a mocking tone. "Want me to hold your hand?"

I chuckled softly shaking my head. "I haven't slept more than two hours a night in the past week and a half since getting here _bogha_, its call insomnia," I grinned getting cocky. "And besides, insomnia or not, I still managed to crack off head shots on all the bastards I took down"

Spud whined sifting and situating himself between the two of us vying for the attention I was giving Daryl. I grinned softly scratching his head. "Thanks for your help handsome," I stroked behind his ears before accepting the bottle of water Dale handed to me as he held one out to Daryl too. "I don't think anyone's going to sleep after this bullshit" I motioned to the bodies littered around the camp before letting my head fall back against the cold metal of my 'Am and sighed heavily letting my shoulders sag as I stared up at the moon, only one thing lay on my mind._ Connor and Amelia had better be ok._

* * *

I stretched out, feet on the dash of my 'Am, the roof open leaving me to watch the stars as I tried to sleep again. I glanced to Spud who was curled up on a towel on the backseat, his sides rising and falling silently as he whimpered and dreamed.

I sighed softly adjusting on my seat before tugging out the picture Amelia had drawn for me and slowly took it in, it had been a month at least since I'd seen them but if anyone could survive in this hell it was my two.

I glanced towards the stars exhaling slowly as I gathered my thoughts and emotions, I glanced out the window at Andrea who was still kneeling with her sisters body. _That thing is going to wake up soon; it's going to damn well bite her if she doesn't put a bullet in it now._ I shook my head lightly watching her silently, her hand was clasped around her sisters, I thought about Quinn and wondered briefly if he'd made it out of Boston or not, we'd promised to meet in Atlanta if we got separated, which we had the night Boston was overrun with Shufflers.

I shifted again closing my eyes trying to block out the ghost screams I could hear echoing through my mind as if they were happening right there and then and not a month ago; I could still hear the growls of Shufflers, the cries of mothers losing their children and the gunfire of soldiers gunning down innocent civilians, I could still hear the thunderous boom of the tanks that had blocked the streets filing everyone to their deaths.

_I panted softly slinging my bag over my shoulder and looked to Quinn. "Come on we've gotta get out of here __**now**__"_

_He looked around the large loft apartment we'd called home for the past few years since I'd divorced Clayton before giving a nod of confirmation. "Come on"_

_He grabbed his bag off his bed and sighed grabbing his AMT Hardballer 2 from the side table before heading after me out the door, I stuck to the side of the stairwells and started down towards the bottom level where my TransAm was waiting stocked and ready for us to head to Atlanta to get Connor and Amelia._

_I swallowed roughly finding Mrs Peter's blocking the door, the old woman had been nice enough, watched both Amelia and Connor for me on occasions, even treated them like her own grandkids. I drew my .50 Cal Desert Eagle and raised it as she turned, half her lower jaw missing, her chest and torso torn open and dripping with blood, she gave a choking cry stumbling towards us before I took my shot, the defending shot rang through the stairwell causing both of us to reel slightly, hands to our ears._

_"Thank god for your fuckin' hand cannon aye sis?"_

_I threw Quinn a grin before nodding and stepping over the now dead body of Mrs Peters and checked the door to the underground car park, my ears still ringing from the shot. I exhaled before sprinting to my 'Am and sliding the keys into the lock. "So does anyone fuckin' know what the hell's happening?"_

_Quinn shrugged. "Not a fuckin' clue" He murmured sliding into the passenger's seat after throwing his bag on the bag seat._

_I hit the gas and changed gears quickly speeding out of the car park and onto the streets, the chaos was like hell itself had opened its gates letting the dead walk the earth again, I exhaled glancing to Quinn as he began to tweak the radio for the emergency system. "Anything?"_

_"Shut up and give me a minute" He muttered before grinning and turning it up._

**_'The office of civil defence has issued the following message, normal broadcasting will cease immediately, this is a civil emergency, avoid anyone infected at all costs, remain calm, help is on the way.'_**

_I rolled my eyes. "Fuckin' pricks, they really think anyone is just going to sit down and take this shit," I slammed on the breaks pulling hard to the left before gassing it around the tank that had pulled out of the main road into the side street we were traveling along. "Jesus fuckin' Christ!"_

_"Watch your tongue," Quinn chided. "Da would cut it out for that"_

_"Yeah well Da ain't here is he?" I snapped lightly flooring the gas pedal and changing gears with ease as I did my best to avoid the numerous people, bitten and not, trolling the streets. "We've gotta get out of Boston"_

_"There's no fuckin' way we can, the fuckin' military will have cut off all roads in and out"_

_I growled. "No fuckin' military bastard is gonna stop me gettin' to my babies Quinn, ain't no one standing in my way, Shuffler, human or other"_

_He laughed slapping me on the back. "There's that cold hard bitch I used to see after a deployment"_

_"I mean it Quinn, __**no one**__ is getting between Connor, Amelia and I," I swept my eyes over the road slamming on the brakes as we stared down another tank, this one blocking the street exit, it's turret pointed at us. "Shit" I exhaled throwing the 'Am into reverse and twisted hooking my arm around the headrest of the passenger's seat forcing the car into reverse to a side road that we barely made it into before the tank fired._

_"__**Jesus**__ that was close!"_

_I nodded, my hands and breathing shaky from the pure adrenaline pulsing through my veins. "Alright brother, we need a plan because we're going to need fuckin' food and water as well at some point"_

_"Plan? What do you mean a plan? I thought the plan was to go to Atlanta"_

_"Aye it is but if we get split then what?"_

_He shrugged lightly. "We carry on to Atlanta and find Amelia and Connor"_

_I nodded lightly. "Aye, alright," I swallowed harshly as I pulled down another side street. "If worst comes to worst..." I trailed off unable to lend my voice to my thoughts. "If... if worst comes to worst then I want you to put a bullet in me, same for them, if they're one of those __**things**__ by the time we find them then you put a bullet in them"_

_He nodded silently. "I want you to do the same for me too," He swallowed placing a hand around my wrist squeezing slightly. "If I get bit I want you to put a bullet in me and I want you to do it __**before**__ I come back as a Shuffler"_

_I nodded placing a hand over his and squeezed it lightly before pulling in at the workshop and glanced around, this part of the city was silent, untouched. "We'll fill up from the tank in the scrap yard and clean out the office and workshop before we find a way out of this death trap they've corralled us in"_

_"Aye, sounds like a right fine plan"_

_I nodded sliding out of the car and unlocking the gates to the forecourt before locking them behind us. "Go gas the 'Am for me and I'll start packing up some shit from in there" I motioned to the office as I unlocked it and started inside._

_It took only a few minutes to grab tools and whatever else we needed from the workshop. I gave one last look around my desk before smiling softly and grabbing the picture Amelia had drawn before she'd left, I took it in before folding it and sliding it into my back pocket along with my photo of the three of us before heading back out and locking up. "Alright Quinn let's get this shit back on the road and find a way out of here"_

_Quinn gave a nod before opening the gate for me._

_I settled back in my driver's seat waiting for him and cursed seeing a Shuffler heading towards us. "Shit, Quinn get in the fuckin' 'Am now"_

_He looked towards the Shuffler before firing a shot, I could feel the air leave my lungs in an instant as several Shufflers descend on our position, I shifted lightly sitting on the car door as I leant over the roof of the 'Am firing at the Shufflers coming towards us._

_"There's too fuckin' many of them," I looked to Quinn when I received no reply and saw the look in his eyes before shaking my head. "No Quinn get in the goddamn car"_

_"Reg go, __**you**__ need to get to Atlanta, I can draw them off so you can get out of here, so they don't overrun you"_

_"Quinn shut your fuckin' mouth and get in the car"_

_He shook his head. "Give me my bag now and I'll draw them off"_

_I exhaled climbing out of the car before handing him his bag, before placing both my hands on his cheeks. "My baby brother," I murmured before pressing a kiss to his forehead and willed the tears to leave. "Thank you"_

_He nodded swallowing hard. "Good luck Reg and you make sure you stay alive to find Connor and Amelia," He turned towards the group of Shufflers. "I'll meet you in Atlanta sis" He called over his shoulder as he started running towards them firing his Hardballer at them as he went._

_I climbed back into the car exhaling slowly and whisked away the tears from my eyes before hitting the gas and heading in the opposite direction until my brother's reflection in the rear view mirror was swallowed up by Shufflers. _For the love of Christ let him come out of this alive._ I looked back to the rear view mirror sighing heavily._ I'll meet you in Atlanta Quinn, I promise.

I jerked out of the memory and shuddered fighting the tears again, the sun was beginning to rise again shedding light on the camp that was still recovering from the chaos the night had produced for us.


	9. Moving On

**Disclaimer: **The Walking Dead and it's characters belong to their respective owners which is not me but I do however own Neon, Spud and other Characters that are not in the Walking Dead.

* * *

**Moving On**

=Daryl's P.O.V=

I looked to Neon as she swung the pick axe at one of the dead Walker's, she looked tired and weary, like she was sick of seeing all the death and destruction these things always left in their wake. I swung at another Walker before Glenn and Morales dragged it away to a pile, I moved my eyes to Spud who was sitting eyeing Andrea and her dead sister, his deep brown eyes never leaving the dead woman on the ground.

I moved towards another body and took a moment to pause and watch Neon work, her muscles clenched and released with ease as she hauled the pickaxe up over her shoulder again and delivered another crushing blow to the dead survivor at her feet, she swung it up again delivering a double tap effect to the split skull. _Don't leave anything to chance do you Neon._ I shifted looking at the body at my feet, one of the survivor's, one that Merle had actually got in a scrap with when we'd first arrived, the scrap had been over the Bonneville and how it's engine would probably draw more attention to the camp, Merle had argued back that it wasn't any more dangerous than the other vehicles and then finished that argument with his fists. I couldn't help but smirk slightly, my brother had poured every dollar he ever got into the Bonneville and any he had left over when on finding himself a hooker and a six pack.

"Alright _bogha_," Neon looked up leaning onto the pickaxe wiping away sweat from her brow. "Stop staring and explain something to me," She jerked her head towards the two piles. "What the fuck are the two piles for?"

I looked to the two piles and shrugged lightly. "Ours," I nodded to the pile on the right that had our dead in it. "Theirs" I jerked my head to the pile on the left that was burning. "Don't know what the fuck we're seperatin' them for"

She nodded lightly stretching, her back arching and shirt riding up to expose part of her torso along with a glimpse of ink work tattooed into the skin just to the right of her belly above her hips, flowers by the looks of it. "So I take it this hasn't happened before then?" She queried motioning to the chaos the camp had been left in.

"Not while I've been here it ain't"

Her lips curved in a smirk. "Don't get cocky now _bogha_," She brought a grin to her lips. "Otherwise I'll have to knock you down a peg or two"

I snorted lightly swinging at the Walker at my feet, the pickaxe splitting its head in two.

* * *

=Neon's P.O.V=

I looked towards Rick as he headed towards Andrea who was still holding onto Amy like it would magically bring her back, I cocked my eye brow slightly watching her draw her gun on Rick who slowly began to back off leaving her to be with her sister. _Not a smart move Rick._

"Ya'll can't be serious," Daryl motioned towards Andrea. "Let that girl hamstring us? The dead girls a time bomb"

"What do you suggest?"

"Take the shot, put it out of its misery," The group looked towards me; all I could do was offer a shrug. "I've seen what those things do to people they've bit, it's not fuckin' pretty and that thing on the ground isn't Amy anymore it's a Shuffler plain and simple"

"So what we just put a bullet in Amy and have done with it?" Lori snapped lightly.

"What part of _'that's not her sister anymore'_ don't you seem to get?" I snapped back rubbing lightly at the bridge of my nose, the base of my skull throbbing dully. "Amy's dead, that **_thing_**will come back to life and start chowing down on whoever is closest before it starts gnawing on us," I motioned to the small circle we were stood in. "And me, personally, I don't want that"

"We can't just go over there and put a bullet in her without Andrea's consent"

I rolled my eyes. "Well I could do it from here" I stated layering my words lightly with my annoyance over the subject. Shoot it, burn it and have done with it was it really such a hard concept to grasp?

"Hell I'll do it; I could hit a turkey between the eyes from here"

"No, for god sakes both of you, let her be"

I rolled my eyes turning away. "Don't come crying to me when it comes back to bite you in the arse," I called over my shoulder hauling the bloody pickaxe up again before turning back to the rest of the bodies that still needed to be dealt with, I watched Spud for a second, he was watching Amy's body intently, he had no plans on leaving his spot anytime soon. "Good lad" I murmured stroking his half ear before heading to the bodies lined up waiting for a pick axe to the brain.

"What are you guys doing?" Glenn sounded almost worried as both Morales and Daryl started to drag a body of a survivor towards the burning pile of corpses. "This pile's for geeks, our people go over there" He motioned to right.

"What's the difference?" Daryl asked dragging the body towards the fire. "They're all infected"

"Our people go in that row over there," He stopped them from going any further. "We don't burn them," He half yelled at them, the pain was written across his face. "We bury them"

"You reap what you sow" Daryl called out before being told to shut up.

I couldn't help but agree slightly with him and I could see this coming back to bite us in the ass six ways from Sunday if we didn't at least slam a pickaxe or two into the heads of the dead survivors. I turned to look at Jacqui as she and Jim started to argue quietly before she stood yelling out he'd been bit.

I let my hand rest on my stiletto eyeing him wearily. "Show us the damn bite"

He turned grabbing a spade close to him to use as a weapon, both Shane and Rick trying to calm him down and get him to put the spade down before T-Dog grabbed him from behind.

_He's fucking delirious._ I shook my head lightly taking in the wound on his side as Daryl lifted his shirt exposing it to us. _He's going to end up like all the others._ I swallowed roughly shaking my head willing the thoughts of Quinn rushing through that group trying to lead them away so I could get away to leave my head.

* * *

"What do we do about Jim?"

"I say we put a pickaxe in his head and the dead girls and be done with it"

I nodded my agreement to the idea, it was much for favourable than the excruciating pain he would have to go through to if we let him keep breathing.

"Is that what the two of you would want if it were you?"

"Yeah and I'd thank you while you did it" Daryl shot back before Shane's eyes moved to me.

I nodded. "Aye, that is if I don't put a bullet through my own brain first," I snapped lightly, the lack of sleep and all this shit that had happened so far was beginning to rub on my already raw nerves that plus the headache beginning to brew in my base of my skull. "Because if we don't he's going to die in pain, **_excruciating_** fuckin' pain"

"And how the hell would you know that?"

I growled taking a threatening step towards him. "Because I held a fuckin' **_six year old _**girl while she died, she died screaming for her Ma and Da, she died in immense fuckin' pain until her heart couldn't take it, until it just fuckin' gave out" I snarled lowly so that the people that were the topic of our discussion couldn't hear us.

The group fell silent for a moment, the look on pity in their eyes led me to believe they probably assumed I was taking about family but I wasn't, it was just a six year old girl I'd stumbled across clutching a teddy bear and a blanket who had a chunk out of her shoulder.

"I hate to say it, I never thought I would but maybe Daryl and Neon are right"

"Jim's not a monster Dale or some rabid dog"

"I'm not suggesting..."

Dale was cut off my Rick. "He's sick, a sick man, we start down that road where do we draw the line?"

"I would have assumed that would have been clear," I glanced around the group to see confusion. "Zero tolerance for Shufflers and the like" I clarified.

"What if we can get him help? I heard the CDC was working on a cure"

"I heard that too, heard a lot of things before the world went to hell"

"What if the CDC is still up and running?"

I shook my head lightly listening to Shane and Rick, I was about to turn away when I heard the words army and Fort Benning in one sentence. "You seriously think there's still any military left after this long?" I queried. "That first night in Boston I watched innocent men, women and children die by their hands, my brother and I almost got taken out by a fuckin' tank that fired at us," I shook my head lightly. "Hell opened her gates and let the dead roam free, there's no **_government_**or any fuckin' **_military_** left, they all jumped ship and either joined the ranks of the Shufflers or decided a bullet was a more favourable solution" I glanced to Daryl as he took in everyone's words silently, his mind ticking over what _needed_ to be done and what everyone was saying _needed_ to be done.

"You go looking for aspirin, do what you need to do," He started to walk backwards with a pickaxe in hand. "Someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem" He yelled out getting ready to swing the pickaxe at Jim.

My hand automatically went to my desert eagle strapped to my thigh as Rick pulled his gun on Daryl, the latter immediately halting his mission to end Jim's life.

"We don't kill the living"

"That's funny coming from a man who just put a gun to my head"

I sighed softly turning away and heading towards my 'Am before popping the boot and sifted through the box sitting to the left of everything else that was filled with plenty of white and brown bottles of medical drugs. I sifted through them taking out one and throwing it back in before finally finding one that would kill the headache that was growing more persistent in the base of my skull.

"You keepin' drugs from everyone?"

I looked up to Daryl and glared lightly. "You saying neither you or Merle have a secret stash squirreled away somewhere?" I shot back as I threw back a few of the pills dry before grinning lightly as he fell silent. "That's what I thought" I murmured rubbing at the dull throb in my temple before pushing myself up.

"You a fucking neat freak or something?"

I glanced to the boot that had been organised with boxes and bags, there were cans and packaged foods to the right side of the boot in boxes, a few bottles of clean water in a box next to them and medical supplies to the left side in boxes while there were folded blankets and a pillow underneath a bag that had my clothing in it. "No, just easier to find shit when it's like this," I grinned lightly at him. "Plus I can tell who's been through my things then too because they'd never put it back as organised as I do"

He smirked lightly grabbing one of the bottles of pills looking at it. "So what have you got?"

"You name it I've probably got it," I shrugged lightly. "I raided some ambulances that had been left alone in one town I went through, pharmacy in another town and several drug dealers I did the favour of putting down too" I shrugged lightly.

"Why not use some of this shit to sleep then?"

"Because I like having all my senses about me, **_especially_** if what happened last night happens again," I murmured before looking to Andrea and Amy as the latter began to stir. "Jesus, I fuckin' knew this would happen"

"Stupid bitch," He swore. "Should have just put her down like we said"

I nodded watching for a second as Andrea rested her forehead against the Shuffler's, she was talking to it as she placed her gun it's head, a gunshot ringing out soon afterwards, its brains flying out the side of its skull as she ended its existence.

* * *

I stroked Spud's head silently listening to Shane and Rick discuss the plan about moving on to the CDC, Shane stressing the importance about staying together all while giving Daryl and I a _'you two can fuck off if you want' _look before turning back to the rest of the group. I mulled it over briefly, I could stay with the group and head through territory I hadn't covered yet or I could venture out on my lonesome again with Spud and do the same. _I can always leave once I reach the CDC, them going there doesn't mean __**I**__ have to stay with them._ I stood leaving the small group as people began to disperse and clean themselves up and some of the others started on dinner for everyone. _Staying with the group is added security, better night's sleep for both Spud and I._ I looked towards Spud who was walking ever faithful at my side. _Venturing out on my lonesome means I can move at my own pace, no need to share my limited supplies, no need to risk getting attach..._

"Hey," I glanced towards Daryl as he ran to catch up with Spud and I as we headed towards the small lake in the bottom of the quarry. "You stickin' around with the rest of them?" He jerked his head towards the camp.

I shrugged lightly. "Its ground I haven't covered yet so I can either let someone lead me at their pace or do it all at my own pace alone with Spud," I nodded to the pitbull who was trotting along beside us. "I don't think it's a good idea for me to stick around, I mean shit I'm used to my own rules not following someone else's, I don't play well anymore when someone else is telling me what to do," I gave a soft laugh. "Usually ends in me and said other person rolling around beating the shit out of each other, it's happened before and it'll happen again"

He growled clenching his fists. "Come on man, I'm sick of all the good people leavin'," He half yelled, obviously my words had hit a sore spot with him. "First Merle, now you," He motioned to me. "No one can fight worth shit in this goddamn camp except a handful of us"

I saw the anger in his eyes and sighed softly looking to Spud as we finally reached the gravelly sand at the edge of the lake. "You honestly want me to stick around?" I queried out of curiosity.

He looked away shrugging slightly, all his anger suddenly deflated. "I guess," His posture was awkward and almost defensive. "I know you got your kids to find, hell I'll help you find 'em if that's what it takes but everyone's either dyin' or leavin' or disappearin' and it sucks," He groused throwing a stone towards the lake watching the water ripple as it sunk. "Plus we'd never get to settle our pissin' match about who's the better shot"

I snorted lightly rolling my eyes. "We **_both_** know who's the better shot," I grinned nudging him throwing him off balance slightly. "I am" I frowned slightly as the stone I'd tried to skip across the surface sunk upon contact with the water, I could never get the hang of skipping stones.

"In your dreams Neon"

"Oh no, no, no, no, no, I am **_definitely_** the better shot," I grinned softly. "Well with a rifle I am at least, my bowmanship needs a bit of work though," I shrugged lightly looking towards the sky. "Maybe you can help me out with that, give me a lesson or two"

He laughed softly scratching at the back of his head, another awkward movement. "So you gonna stay or go out on your own again and end up bit?"

I let my eyes settle on the water. "I'll stick around until the CDC and then decide from there where to go," I looked towards him before giving him a light grin. "Only reason I'm stickin' round is 'cause your beggin' me too" I teased lightly.

"I ain't beggin' you for nothin' girl, won't even let me get in your pants" He grinned.

I couldn't help but laugh and shaking my head before looking to Spud and shifted kneeling on one knee in the water before beginning to wash the dried blood off his sandy brown coat. "Come on buddy let's get this shit washed off you and then back to camp so good ol' Shane can yell at me for leavin' the fuckin' group without his goddamn permission"


	10. Goodbyes and Leaky Pipes

**Disclaimer: **The Walking Dead and it's characters belong to their respective owners which is not me but I do however own Neon, Spud and other Characters that are not in the Walking Dead.

* * *

**Goodbyes and Leaky Pipes**

=Neon's P.O.V=

I wiped my hands on a rag and winced as the steam rolling off the radiator burnt my skin. "If we let her cool down she should be alright for a little while before she blows again but other than pulling a brand new pipe out of someone's arse there's nothing I can do unless someone can magically pull duct tape out their arse too" I felt silent as I mulled over what I'd said. _Actually that might work, where the hell's a Shuffler when you need one?_

Rick sighed nodded. "We'll see what Shane and T-Dog come back with"

I nodded leaning against the front of the RV. "First truck we find I'm stripping for a new hose so this shit doesn't happen again and I'll damn well make it fit" I called out after him as he started to walk back around to the rest of the group.

Dale chuckled lightly as he watched the road and surrounding area for movement. "That's **_if_** we come across a truck"

"There's got to be one on the road somewhere, just a matter of looking for it"

I glanced around before resting my eyes on Spud who was on alert watching the road and trees around us. "Spud come here," The pitbull looked over before lazily heading over and sitting down in front of me resting his head on my knee as I stroked the white patch on his throat lightly waiting for the others to come back before looking to Dale. "So what're we going to do about Jim?" I jerked my head towards the RV.

"Rick says he wants to stay here," He shook his head lightly. "You were right, he's in pain"

"Aye well no one wanted to listen to me did they?" I muttered softly before shaking my head lightly. "But done is done"

"That girl you told us about..."

"Was **_not_** my daughter, just some kid I found wandering the streets of some town I blew through, she had a teddy and a blanket and chunk out of her shoulder," I shrugged lightly. "Amy was lucky, she died from the blood loss," I nodded to the RV. "Jim, he's... he's dying in pain" I looked towards the sky and sighed softly shaking my head lightly.

"What is it?"

"Just thinking," I murmured scratching Spud's head. "The night I left Boston," I sighed heavily wondering if I should continue on. "I left behind one of my only family left," I let my head rest back against the RV as I closed my eyes. "My brother, he took off trying to draw a horde of Shufflers off so I could get away," I opened my eyes slowly. "I haven't seen or heard from him since and I can only hope he isn't one of those **_things_**"

"I didn't know you had a brother"

I nodded lightly. "I don't advertise the fact just as I don't advertise a lot of other facts about myself, I like my privacy," I stated. "But I do have a brother, my twin," I grinned softly. "Fifteen minutes younger than me, we used to do everything together, when I joined the Royal Marine's he stayed behind to help Da on the farm, when Da died he moved to Boston just so we weren't half a world away from each other," I shook my head lightly laughing softly. "When we were kids, this one time, we were having a race with some of the local kids in one of the back paddocks, won a shit ton of money from them," I grinned softly remembering the day. "Da made us trudge through sludge and rain to give the money back to the poor bastards we'd won it from," I laughed shaking my head remembering the memory clear as day. "I mean shit we were in awe; we'd won about twenty quid all up and thought we'd won the fuckin' lotto"

He laughed. "Well kids will do that"

"Aye," I grinned softly leaning towards. "Made us both think twice about telling Da when we decided to hold another race in the back paddocks" I grinned standing and stretching before glancing up the road as Shane and T-Dog arrived back and set to work with the duct tape they'd found.

"What's your brother's name?"

"His name?" I queried glancing to Dale. "His names Quinn, Quinn O'Rourke"

* * *

I stroked Spud's head giving a nod to Jim who was settled under the tree. "Rest easy," I murmured before turning away and heading back down the hill towards my 'Am and leant against it lighting a cigarette before looking to Rick. "It's going to get dark soon; we need to find some place to stay for the night"

He looked to the sky and nodded. "Yeah you're right, I'll go talk with Shane"

I nodded handing a cigarette to Daryl as he came to lean against the side of the 'Am with me. "What did you come to bug me about?"

"Heard you talkin' to the old man," He jerked his head towards Dale who was talking with the others. "You got a brother too?"

I nodded. "Baby brother," I smiled lightly. "Well he's only fifteen minutes younger than me and I only call him my baby brother 'cause it fucks him off so much," I felt the smile falter sighing softly as I pushed back a few loose strands of hair. "**_Used_** to fuck him off" I bit back another sigh lowering my head slightly.

"He dead?"

I shrugged lightly. "We got separated in Boston; I still don't know what happened to him though"

He nodded lightly. "If he's like you he's gotta be out there kickin' Walker ass"

I nodded lightly looking to Dale as he headed back towards the RV. "We're going to keep going until we find an area that's flat and sheltered enough for us to make camp"

I nodded sliding back into my 'Am with Spud before waiting for the RV to set off. I glanced to Spud sighing softly as I patted his head and started out behind the RV. "Alright Spud, we have to think about what we're doing," I looked to the RV before looking to Spud. "Do we stay or leave when we get to the CDC?"

Spud whined softly cocking his head to the side before giving a deep woof and whining again.

"So you think we should stay?"

He whined again placing a paw on my thigh and standing to lick at my face. "Alright, alright stow that shit you big soppy beast," I grinned giving the stocky sandy beast a side on hug and pressed a kiss to his muzzle. "We'll stay on for a while but if we're stopping again I'm packing our shit and heading out, I need to find Connor and Amelia, no more fuckin' about," I glanced in the rear view mirror catching a glimpse of the dirty blue and white pick up a few cars back. "Even if I am starting to come around to this whole _'group'_ idea"

* * *

OK at the beginning of the story where they need a radiator pipe and Neon's thinking about Walkers is in no little fact because I was thinking about how long the average human intestines can be and lets face it, wrap it in duct tape and it would be just as good as a radiator hose.


	11. War Stories

**Disclaimer: **The Walking Dead and it's characters belong to their respective owners which is not me but I do however own Neon, Spud and other Characters that are not in the Walking Dead.

* * *

**War Stories**

=Neon's P.O.V=

I poked at the fire with a stick trying to keep the dying flames alive for a bit longer, everyone had situated themselves close to each other for extra warmth in a circle around the fire, I was uncomfortable being this close to people and would have much preferred to just sit in my TransAm with Spud for the rest of the night.

I played with the frayed edge of my cargo pants I'd ripped into a pair of shorts, it had been a blister of a day and my 'Am had retained most of the heat making it even worse for me.

I glanced towards Carl who was staring at my right leg. "Go ahead kid," He looked up quickly with wide eyes. "I can see it on your face, what's your question?"

He looked to my leg again and pointed to the scarring. "What's it from?"

"Carl," Lori chided softly. "Don't be rude"

"It's alright," I stated twisting my leg towards Carl so he could see the deep scar running up from my foot to the top of my hip. "Kids' inquisitive, that's good," I ran my fingers over the pronounced scarring. "You know I'm ex military right?" He nodded lightly. "Well on my last deployment my look out and I got cornered behind enemy lines," I fingered the scar lightly again, I could feel everyone's eyes on me, listening to me as I retold my tale. "We were kept for a week, week and a half and..." I searched briefly for the right word to use, I would have used tortured since that what happened but decided against it. "**_Interrogated_** most days until we tried to make a break for it," I looked up before motioning to my scar. "This was done with an iron rod and a knife after I refused to talk," I looked up in time to see a grimace on Carl's face. "My look out managed to help me patch myself up and helped drag me out of the shithole we were in and back to safety, I spend months laid up in a hospital after having my knee replaced," I ran my finger along the scar, a ghost pain shooting through the old injuries. "I have pins fused through the bones holding them together, it runs up my leg to here," I tapped the top of my hip. "I couldn't be put back on active duty after that"

"Does it still hurt?"

"Aye sometimes, ghost pains mostly and the cold in winter plays hell with it but other than that it's never given me a problem" I let my eyes rest on the fire watching the flames lick at the air.

"So what? Honourable discharge?"

I chuckled lightly bringing my eyes up to Rick's. "Aye with honours too but I should have been **_dis_**honourable discharge," I rolled my shoulder's trying to ease the tension in them and flexed my aching fingers for a moment. "I was given a desk job a few months after my recovery, bored the ever living fuck out of me," I looked back to the fire curling my fingers slightly. "And so my CO and I got into a... let's call it a slight **_disagreement_** one lovely afternoon... it ended in an all out brawl with him missing an ear, a chunk out of his nose and a pretty impressive display of bruising on both of us," I chuckled lightly shaking my head remembering the fight in detail. "In my defence though it was self defence, he pinned me in a corner"

"Wait... missing an ear?" Lori screwed up her face in disgust.

I nodded lightly. "All out brawl, no holding back," I looked away smiling sheepishly. "I bite damn hard when I want to"

"Wouldn't they have court marshalled you for that?"

"Aye and the ruling went in my favour since it was technically self defence of my behalf, they then gave me the option of staying on desk duty or discharge," I shrugged lightly. "If I couldn't be out in the thick of it then there was no life for me there"

"So this shit's gotta be like fuckin' Christmas for you"

I looked to Daryl grinned lightly and nodded. "It is, it's actually fun being in the middle of a fight again"

"Fun, you find this **_fun_**?" Andrea asked looking at me like I'd grown another head.

I nodded. "Aye I do have a few screws loose, a week of brutal tor... interrogation will do that to you but I'm still fuckin' sane enough to wield a weapon and kill anything that tries to kill me," I shrugged lightly. "What doesn't kill, maim, shatter or utterly destroy you only makes you stronger but in saying that it depends on the person, you have to have that will to go on, that will to fight and to survive, for some of us," I nodded towards Daryl. "It comes as base instincts, a second nature, for other's it's learned behaviour, some of us are just more in tune with our primal base instincts than others"

"So what you're saying is the strong survive and the weak die?"

I nodded. "Exactly, it's how it's always been, ever since the start of time, through every species, the weak, ill and injured either wind up dead or left behind, the rest strive on and forge ahead"

"That's a pretty bleak outlook on things"

"No it's an honest outlook on things, a blunt outlook on things because I sure as shit won't sugar coat things for anyone, not with all the shit that's going on around us, that's the kind of shit that'll get someone killed," I felt sleep tug at the base of my skull. "I'm going to sleep in my 'Am, call me when you want me to take watch" I stated standing and heading to my TransAm before sliding in and laying out flat on my passengers seat with a thick polar fleece blanket over the top on me with Spud curled up on the back seat.

* * *

I groaned lowly at the tapping and looked to Glenn who was tapping on the window before I popped the door open. "What?"

"It's your time for watch duty"

I nodded yawning and sliding out before taking the binoculars from him and tugged my blanket tighter around me knotting it around my throat as I climbed to the top of the RV. I rubbed at my eyes and glanced at Daryl who was sitting in one of the chairs. "What we doing fuckin' two on shifts now?"

"Yeah, Rick thought it would be best" He rolled his eyes not bothering to dial back the sarcasm.

I shrugged lightly. "'least I got someone to talk to now"

He nodded before smirking lightly. "You cold or something?"

I threw my fingers up at him poking my tongue out at him. "Get fucked _bogha,_" I muttered taking a seat on the hard top of the RV's roof before yawning loudly and looking blankly at Daryl as he took a seat beside me. "What?"

"Share" He murmured unknotting the blanket from my neck and shifted closer.

"Get your own _bogha_, not my fault you like to play the tough badass"

"Don't be a bitch Neon, share the goddamn blanket"

I rolled my eyes shifting and gasping softly at the bitter cold that had invaded my blankety cocoon of warmthness. "You're a bastard," I muttered softly rubbing at my arm trying to get it warm again before shifting closer to him. "You share my blanket you share your heat," I stated making sure I was close enough to him to bask in the heat almost radiating off him. "Jesus you warmed up quick"

We sat in silent occasionally scouring the area for Walker's before lapsing back into silence.

"Alright, silence is really not my friend right now, I'm going even more fuckin' insane than I am so for the love of Christ say something to me, talk, shit talk dirty to me for all I care"

He looked to me for a second before shrugging lightly. "You still gonna stay on when we get to the CDC?"

"Aye, I thought about it," I grinned lightly. "Even asked Spud's opinion on it," I shook my head lightly realizing how insane it made me sound. "I'll stay on but I need to find my Connor and Amelia, I can't stop again if we decide to stop, after the CDC if the group decides to stop Spud and I are carrying on," I sighed softly motioning to the darkness surrounding us. "The thought of them being out there in this, without me, it's driving me fuckin' insane, I can't sleep proper, can't think straight, I need to find them, I'm not giving up until I do"

I shifted closer as his arm hooked around my shoulders. "You'll find them Neon, shit if either of them are anything like you they gotta be alive somewhere, gotta be kickin' ass and takin' names, I'd have killed for a Mama like you" He added almost silently.

I stayed silent, a smile resting on my lips as I rested my head on his shoulder, his comment slowly making the rounds through my brain as I thought about it. "I never knew my Ma," I murmured idly. "She died giving birth to Quinn and I, Da raised us but never really talked about her all that much," I remembered a photo I'd seen of the two of them. "I know she was a true Irish lass though, had the same bright red hair Amelia's got and a set of stunning Emerald eyes"

He nodded lightly pausing before finally speaking again. "You think we really got a chance with this CDC shit?"

I shrugged lightly. "I don't know, it would have been my guess they'd have gone into lock down when everything happened but if we get there and there's shit all there then we turn around and head to Fort Benning I guess," I glanced up at his face. "Not that there'd be much point since it would probably be the same anyway"

He nodded again looking down at me before glancing around our surroundings. "Wonder what Merle's doin'?"

I snorted softly. "Probably beating the crap out of some Shuffler's with a crowbar or some shit by now" I murmured shifting and leaning into his warmth some more before scanning our surroundings with the binoculars.

"Yeah, that sounds like him, give him a fuckin' hammer and he'd crap out nails"

I chuckled lightly shaking my head before yawning and settling back down as we lapsed into a comfortable silence.


	12. Lessons

**Disclaimer:** The Walking Dead and it's characters belong to their respective owners which is not me but I do however own Neon, Spud and other Characters that are not in the Walking Dead.

Leyshla Gisel: Technically it was trying to keep warm but cuddling sounds cuter so lets go with that.

Outlaw-Lanaya: If you think she'll say that at the CDC just wait for the abandoned highway. :D

Nelle07: Hmmm... I predict things will get interesting at the CDC, _very_ interesting. :P

* * *

**Lessons**

=Neon's P.O.V=

I groaned softly scrubbing at my eyes with my palms before looking at the person insistently tapping on my driver's window, I glared lightly at Daryl and popped the door open a crack allowing cold air to rush in and steal the warm out of the car. "Better have a good fuckin' reason for making me cold _bogha_"

"Gotta go catch some grub before everyone else wakes"

I yawned rolling my eyes and stretched slightly. "And you're telling me this why?" I queried idly as I twisted throwing my blanket over Spud grinning as the dog snorted and grumbled at being rudely awoken from his dreams.

"You said you were gettin' rusty with your marksmanship"

"I said nothing of the sort," I stated grabbing my hoodie off the passenger's seat and pushed open the door fully before slipping my shoes on and stepping out of my 'Am letting Spud out as well. "My marksmanship is as sharp as ever..." I grinned softly. "With my AWSM it is at least"

"Come on"

I sighed softly stretching properly and shut the car door before grabbing my things out of the boot and headed out after Daryl with Spud racing ahead of us to mark his territory against some trees.

I trudged slowly beside Daryl rubbing occasionally at my eyes; I'd wanted to sleep for just a little bit longer especially after nearly falling asleep on watch duty which ended with Daryl trying to keep me awake by retelling stories and some very lame, but incredible dirty, jokes.

I grunted softly as Daryl stopped causing me to walk into the back of him. "What?" I queried looking up at him as he stopped and looked down at me.

"I've been talkin' to you for the past ten minutes and you ain't said a word, you off with the fuckin' fairies or somethin'?"

"Not quite" I mumbled softly rubbing at the ache in my neck.

Daryl raised his crossbow lining up his sights with a squirrel that scampered across the ground and started up a tree before squeezing the trigger, the arrow sailed through the air hitting its mark and pinning the squirrel to the tree by its head, its body falling limp.

I watched him tug the arrow and squirrel free from the tree before lining up my own compound bow and arrow, I followed the squirrel as it scampered across the ground and released my arrow frowning as it missed its mark before Daryl's crossbow came up swiftly and landed an arrow through its head.

"You're gettin' rusty Neon" A cocky tone slipped through with his words.

"Then why don't you give me a lesson or two?" I countered jabbing a finger lightly into his chest before collecting the squirrel and ripped the arrow out of its chest before throwing it at him as I collected my arrow from the ground.

"Fine"

I stalled and looked up at him from wiping the tip of my arrow down the thigh of my jeans. "What?"

"You heard me, I said fine"

"Brilliant," I grinned softly and twirled the arrow around my fingers. "So... What first oh great master of the crossbow?"

He rolled his eyes and started towards one of the tree's carving a target into it with his knife. "Go on, hit the centre" He stated motioning to it as he stepped back to my side.

I furrowed my brow lightly before shrugging and readied my bow and arrow releasing it; I huffed softly watching the arrow embedded into the tree trunk a few inches above its intended target and gave a slight roll of my eyes as Daryl took his shot hitting it in the dead centre. "Show off," I muttered softly. "It's not exactly teaching me if you're upstaging me love"

"Give me a minute woman" He huffed retrieving both arrows from the makeshift target and nodded towards it again.

I raised my bow and loaded my arrow again, Daryl hefted his crossbow over his shoulder before stepping closer, arms circling around me before he placed his hands over mine. I couldn't resist the grin that spread over my lips as I looked to the muscles taunt underneath his dirty skin. "Like this do you _bogha_?"

He muttered something under his breath before using his foot to nudge mine apart and shifted my grip before lowering my arms up a bit. "You're aimin' to high, gotta aim lower"

"Bet that's what you tell all the pretty girls you take home" I murmured softly releasing the bow and watched as it embedded into the trunk just left of centre.

Daryl shifted slightly and went to retrieve my arrow. "Never took home a pretty girl that could shoot like you can before"

"Uh huh" I took the arrow from him and reloaded levelling my aim again.

"Took home some pretty girls that could shoot sure but none like you can," I cursed inwardly as the arrow wobbled slightly in the air falling short of its target by a few feet. "What the fuck do you call that?"

"A shitty shot," I called over my shoulder as I gathered my arrow from the ground. "Suppose we should get back"

"Guess so"

We lapsed into a brief silence for a few seconds before I broke it. "Thank you"

He stopped short and quickly tried to cover it up by shifting his crossbow on his shoulder. "For what?"

"Giving me a lesson," I handed him a strip of jerky and sighed softly taking a bite out of my own strip. "Gotta find some more, running low" I flicked Spud's ear lightly and offered him the piece of BBQ flavoured jerky.

"You think this shit's ever gonna end?"

I glanced over at Daryl out the corner of my eye and shrugged lightly. "It's got to end at some point, eventually the number of human's will outnumber the Shuffler's instead of it being the other way around," I picked at my nails with my stiletto. "But that being said it could be years before that happens and we may all very well be dead by the time that time arises," I flicked my stiletto away and slipped it back into my pocket. "Plus we don't know what kind of shape the rest of the world is in"

"You think the rest of the worlds infected?"

I stopped levelling my bow to aim at a Walker that cross into our path and took my shot giving a triumphant grin as it fell with an arrow through the temple. "I suppose it must be;" I twisted my arrow free from its head and wiped the blood down the thigh of my jeans. "I mean America has plenty of allies, surely they would have sent aid by now and they haven't, so logic dictates that the rest of the world is in just a bad of shape if not worse" I paused, a sinking feeling slipping into my bones and the pit of my stomach.

Daryl stopped a few paces ahead of me and turned. "What?"

I jerked my head up and shook it lightly. "Nothing... well I mean it's nothing big," I slung my compound bow back over my shoulder. "I wanted to be buried back home next to my Ma and Da when I died... guess I'll never get that chance now," I shook my head softly and picked up the pace. "Wanted to take my kids back home too"

Silence fell over us as he stewed over the conversation as we trekked back to the camp to find the others milling about talking and sitting around a fire waiting on us.

"Here" Daryl handed the string of squirrels off to Carol and Jacqui before starting towards his pickup. I twisted slightly watching him go and shook my head lightly scratching Spud's good ear before taking a seat beside T-Dog and began cleaning my arrows off properly.

* * *

For anyone that's wondering:  
The AWSM Neon's talking about is the Arctic Warfare Super Magnum, which is what her L115A3 sniper rifle is usually called.


	13. Good Times and Drinking

**Disclaimer: **The Walking Dead and it's characters belong to their respective owners which is not me but I do however own Neon, Spud and other Characters that are not in the Walking Dead.

**Leyshla Gisel:** Thanks doll.

**gabby871:** Update is here and you'll just have to wait and find out if Neon will find her family or not.

**Madzilla1075:** How do I know all of this? I'm a bit of a gun nut and the internet has a wealth of sites to help. Plus the L115A3 is my dream rifle.

* * *

**Good Times and Drinking**

=Neon's P.O.V=

I shook my head lightly looking at all the dead bodies littered around on the ground before slowly sliding out of my TransAm, Spud directly behind me. "This place looks like a fuckin' Shuffler bomb went off or somethin'"

Lori nodded in agreement. "Why are there so many dead?"

"Military would have turned on the civilian's when they started trying to get into the CDC building, they would have wanted to protect whatever's in there at all costs," I glanced around the group. "We need to be careful for whatever one's aren't dead" I motioned to the bodies with the barrel end of my rifle.

"They all look pretty dead to me"

"Don't underestimate these things; I saw one once just laying there and when some poor sap walked past it, it grabbed his ankle and had a right ol' feast on him"

We started towards the building, weapons in hand scanning as we went making sure none of them moved.

I turned my back to the rollers as Rick and Shane began trying to lift them before banging on them waiting for an answer.

"There's nobody here"

"Then why are these shutters down?"

I gave a whistle jerking my head towards the Walker approaching. "We've got a live one"

Daryl stepped forward shooting a bolt into its head and turned to Rick in anger. "You led us into a graveyard"

"He made a call" Lori argued briefly with him.

"It was the wrong damn call" Daryl shot back taking an agreesive step towards her.

I glanced over my shoulder backing towards the door slowly keeping a look out for more Shufflers.

"Rick this is a dead end, do you hear me?"

"Hate to break up the fuckin' bitch fight but we need to bug out now before more of these things wake up, we won't have near enough guns or ammo to take them all down or have enough room to get back to the convoy soon"

Lori nodded. "She's right; we can't stay here, not this close to the city after dark"

"Fort Benning Rick, it's still an option"

"On what? No food, no fuel, it's a hundred miles" Andrea spoke drawing everyone attention.

"Oh it's more than that darlin'" I stated readying my rifle, the suppressor on the end would dull any noise from it but not enough that it wouldn't attract more.

"Hundred and twenty five," Glenn stated. "I checked the map"

"Forget Fort Benning we need answers tonight, **_now_**"

I looked to Daryl as he nodded to the cars; I gave a silent nod getting ready to run back to my 'Am with Spud.

"The camera, it moved"

I turned quickly on my heel looking towards the camera. "It's probably motion operated"

I swallowed roughly turning back round to scan the surrounding area, the light beginning to slowly bleed out of the sky as Rick and Shane began to fight.

I raised my rifle looking down the scope circling it onto the temple of a Shuffler ready to take the shot before the roller door behind us began to retract and bath us in artificial fluorescent lighting. _Jesus, there is someone in there._ I slowly lowered my rifle and turned heading towards the door with everyone else.

"Daryl, Neon cover the back"

I gave a nod retreating slowly backwards through the doors with my rifle up before spinning on the balls of my feet when I heard the click of a gun.

"Anybody infected?" The man that had appeared from a hallway called.

Rick shook his head. "One of our group was, he didn't make it"

"Why are you here? What do you want?"

I narrowed my eyes standing side on to watch both the door behind us and the man in front of us.

"A chance"

"That's asking an awful lot these days," He slowly advanced towards us eyeing us wearily. "You all submit to a blood test," He stated. "That's the price of admission"

"Gladly" I muttered softly, Spud's hackles were raised up watching the doors.

"If you've got stuff to bring in you do it now, once this door closes it stays closed"

Rick nodded turning to the rest of us. "Lori, Carl, Carol, Sophia, Jacqui and Andrea stay here with T-Dog and Dale, the rest of us can get everything we need"

"Wait here bud I'll be right back" I murmured patting his head as I wrapped my hand around my rifle and headed out towards my TransAm before grabbing my pack sitting on top of everything and threw a spare change of clothes into it along with a bottle of pills and some other things from my 'Am before heading back inside.

* * *

I watched the needle slide under my skin and into my vein; the vile attached to the end filling quickly with blood before Jenner slipped the needle out and pressed a small pad to the tiny wound. "You're not squeamish?"

I shook my head. "Seen my fair share of blood, **_caused_** a fair share of blood"

"Mind taking a sample from your dog? I don't like the way he's eye balling me"

I grinned nodding and took the needle and vile from him standing and kneeling in front of Spud. "Come on buddy, it'll only take a second" I murmured prepping the things and taking a vile of his blood while Jenner took Andrea's blood.

I handed the things to Jenner before we headed back to the main computer area before heading down another hallway to a mess hall like room with a small kitchen and tables.

"There's plenty of food in the cupboards, make yourself at home," Jenner motioned to the kitchen. "Just keep the energy usage to a minimum"

Carol, Jacqui and Lori set in to rifling through the cupboards as we all dumped our things in various spots around the room before most of us sat down catching our moment of reprieve.

I stood taking half the cutlery from Carol and helped her set up the tables as Glenn and T-Dog pushed two of them together and started arranging seats around the outside. I glanced over at Daryl and frowned in confusion as he watched me silently, rag in hand cleaning the blood off his crossbow bolts.

I turned back to the kitchen helping out and it wasn't long before everyone was ready, Jenner had even let us in on a secret wine stash which Dale was happily pouring out for everyone.

"Come on; let the kid have a taste," Dale held the bottle over a glass. "You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner and in France"

I laughed softly. "Sod the wine, its good ol' Guinness in Ireland"

A laugh went round the table as we all continued drinking and eating. "Well, when Carl is in Italy or France he can have some then" Lori stated with her hand over the top of Carl's glass.

"What's it gonna hurt? Come on"

She finally caved allowing Dale to pour some out for Carl.

I turned glancing towards Daryl before motioning for his bottle he'd been drinking from. I topped up my glass handing it back with a winning grin before raising it to him and sipped at it; Red wine wasn't my thing, a good cold pint of beer, however, was.

The table fell silent as we all shifted to watch Carl take a drink from his glass; he screwed up his nose in disgust. "Ew" A laugh went round the table at his reaction.

I looked to Spud and grinned softly throwing a slice of meat off my plate at him before he went back to his own bowl that had been stocked full of various meats and anything else I'd been able to find to scrape together for a meal for him.

"Well just stick to soda pop there bud"

"Not you Glenn" Daryl called over the table at Glenn who was looking at the bottle of wine in his hands.

"What?"

"Keep drinkin' little man, I want to see how red your face can get," He nudged my shoulder with the bottle. "You too Neon"

"Oh _bogha_don't you know it's a cardinal sin to challenge the Irish to a drinking game? Albeit I'm not full Irish," I grinned leaning closer to him. "But I'll tell you this; I can drink a damn sight more than you"

Laughter went through the table again; it was good to feel safe and almost happy for a change. I glanced to Rick as he tapped his glass and stood.

"It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly"

"He is more than just our host"

"Here, here"

Daryl stood raising his bottle after topping up my glass again. "Here's to you doc, booyah"

"_Sláinte_" I grinned raising my glass to him.

"So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here doc?" The mood around the table dissipated quickly as Shane spoke. "All the others doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened where are they?"

"Ah shit" I murmured softly shaking my head and rolling my eyes lightly, it was something on everyone's minds but we were all too busy celebrating to give a toss about the answer right then and there.

"Well, when things got bad a lot of people just left, went off to be with their families and when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun the rest bolted"

"Every last one?"

"No, many couldn't face walking out the door," His eyes were only on Shane. "They... _'opted out'_"

"Jesus" I murmured softly.

"There was a rash of suicides, that was a bad time"

"You didn't leave, why?" Andrea queried

I shifted in my seat, my feet resting up on another chair I'd pulled over from another table as I silently drank my glass of wine and listened to Jenner.

"I just kept working, hoping to do some good"

There was a brief moment of silence as everything sunk in before Glenn moved. "Dude you are such a buzzkill" He directed at Shane before settling in a chair, the table's atmosphere had changed drastically.

I twisted slightly taking the bottle from Daryl's grip and took a long drink from it before topping up my glass and handed it back letting my eyes rest on Spud.


	14. Warm Water

**Disclaimer: **The Walking Dead and it's characters belong to their respective owners which is not me but I do however own Neon, Spud and other Characters that are not in the Walking Dead.

**Leyshla Gisel:** Hehe... Hmmm... Well... I don't quite know but I predict it will be a reoccurring thing between Daryl and Neon.

**LivCadence:** Thank you! I've tried my hardest, realism and research is what can make or break a story and me being me I'm a bit of a gun nut so it's always fun researching guns and other weaponry. I will bring Neon's real name out a little later in the story but I promise it will be in this story.

**Nelle07:** Hmmm... where will a night of drinking lead?... Well I think everyone will be none to surprised where it's going.

Adult content ahead, you've all had fair warning.

* * *

**Warm Water**

=Neon's P.O.V=

I grinned heading after Daryl, a sway in my step from all the drinking we'd been doing.

"Most of the facility is powered down including housing so you'll have to make do here," Jenner explained as we headed along a hallway with several rooms off it, the lights popping on as we headed deeper into the hall. "The couches are comfortable but there are cots in storage if you like," He motioned down the hallway in front of him. "There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy," He stopped turning and lowering himself slightly to look at them. "Just don't plug in the video games ok? Or anything that draws power," He stood back up looking towards us. "The same applies... if you shower go easy on the hot water" He turned leaving us in the hall to pick our own rooms.

Glenn turned around wide eyed. "Hot water?"

"That's what the man said"

Both he and T-Dog shared a grin as did the rest of us; the prospect of hot water was almost to good to be true.

I looked to Spud before back tracking a few doors and nudging one open before dumping my things on the floor, I didn't expect to sleep much over the course of the night but the couch looked comfortable enough to sprawl across whenever I decided to go to sleep.

I looked around the small room, there was a door to the back leading through to its own small bathroom with a toilet, sink and shower; I sighed flopping onto the couch and looking at Spud before scratching his head. "I've been dreaming of hot water Spud," I murmured softly before looking up at Daryl as he stepped into the room, bottle of wine in his hands. "We're gonna need more than one if I'm drinking with you"

He nodded. "We'll raid the rest of the stash later" He stated flopping down beside me and cracking open the bottle.

I nodded taking the bottle as he handed it to me. "It feels good to just sit down" I murmured stretching out on the couch, my legs over the tops of his and dangling over the edge.

"Yeah, better than having to watch everyone else's asses for a change"

I nodded tucking an arm behind my head before sitting up slightly and shrugging off my hoodie and denim jacket dumping them carelessly on the ground beside the couch, my mind slightly hazy from the wine too fast.

"So how many you got?" Daryl nodded to the tattoos on my skin.

"Eh, give me a minute," My alcohol fogged mind was trying to remember. "Nine or ten, I think, although I do want more"

"Well show me then"

I laughed softly shaking my head. "And what do **_I_** get in return?"

He shrugged. "What do you want?"

I wet my lips grinning. "There're many things I **_want_** and many things I can't **_have_**"

He raised an eyebrow slightly handing the bottle to me. "What have I gotta do to see your ink then?"

I shook my head lightly downing a few mouthful of the wine before handing it back. "Well love I haven't been _fucked_ in a while," I grinned watching his cheeks colour in a beautiful shade of crimson. "But details later, I'll just show you because I'm far too tired and in need of a good shower to give a damn"

He nodded giving an ok.

"Where to start, where to start?" I murmured before flipping over my lower arms so he could see them, printed along my left wrist was _'Mac Tíre' _and printed over my right wrist was a set of four aces, one of each card suit. "Mac Tíre is Irish for wolf," I explained grinning softly. "My Da used to call me it," I lifted my shirt allowing him to see the black and white inked irises to the right of my belly just above my hips. "The white one is a cemetery iris and the other is a black iris," I lifted my shirt a bit higher and ran a finger over the two names inked just under my left breast along my ribs. _'Connor' _and_ 'Amelia'_. "Don't think they really need explaining to you," I murmured before shifting so he could see my left shoulder, tattooed into the skin was the British flag and an Irish Flag with _'For Queen and Country' _underneath them. I turned my back to him casting the shirt aside and twisted slightly. "The flowers on the left of my spine are _Lamprocapnos spectabilis,_ bleeding hearts," I motioned to the left of my back, a line of bleeding hearts flowers stretched down from my shoulder to my lower back, there was also a lone howling wolf on my right shoulder and the family crest inked into the inside of my right forearm, a tattoo that Quinn had the matching counterpart too except his was on his left forearm. "And I got a set of six shooters on my hip too" I motioned to my right hip.

I tensed lightly as his rough calloused fingers trailed down the inked flowers. I stood quickly and looked to the bathroom. "I'm going for a shower," I stated before slipping in and turning the water on, I exhaled leaning on the sink and listened to the door into the main area of the room shut silently. "Shit, this is going to kill me if I don't give it up any time soon"

I stretched slightly stripping and dumping my clothing on the floor before stepping into the shower and moaning softly as the heated water hit my bare skin, pure ecstasy, I stood in the spray savouring it for a moment letting it soak into my muscles and bones before feeling a light draft sweep across the room.

I didn't resist the arms that snaked around my waist and instead leant back against Daryl's chest accepting the cautious calloused touch, if either of us could die tomorrow or six days from now then why the hell not? I wasn't about to push him away, not when I hadn't had some fun in the past year at least.

"So you weren't lyin' then" His fingers ghosted over the six shooters in an X over my hip.

"Did you really doubt me?" I countered scrubbing the shower gel over my skin letting it sink through my skin into my muscles and into my aching bones.

I moaned softly leaning back against him as he ran his fingers over the skin of my hips, the dirty suds washing away down the drain as his hands ran up the flat expanse of my torso and ribs to cup my breasts squeezing lightly.

I turned in his grip facing him and reaching up placing a hungry kiss to his lips, my broken, chipped nails digging into the skin of his shoulders before I circled my arms around his neck tugging him closer pressing another kiss to his lips. "I ain't in the fuckin' mood to be teased _bogha__**, **_either **_fuck me_** like it's our last night alive or get out" I growled lowly scraping my teeth down the side of his neck nipping hard at the hollow of his throat.

I grunted softly taking in a sharp hiss of air between my teeth as my back hit the cold wall, an almost possessive look in his eyes as he bit down on the crook of my neck, a harsh cry leaving my lips, my nails digging into his skin as he sucked at the skin of my neck hard before letting go. _That'll leave a damn nice dark bruise._

Daryl's nails trailed down my sides digging into the skin on the backs of my thighs tugging me up, a hand under my ass supporting me as he leant the other on the wall supporting himself.

I let my head fall back against the wall with a dull thud, a strangled moan choking in my throat as his hips thrust against mine connecting us, his dick buried deep inside me. "Fuck" I hissed out softly between my teeth.

"Shit your tight" He murmured against my shoulder, breath hot against my skin.

I felt my face flush slightly. "It's been a while"

A smirk slipped to his lips before he claimed mine again, my back slowly beginning to warm against the cold wall.

I groaned softly biting down on his earlobe, fingers buried in his messy wet strands of hair as he drew out slowly, the movement grating on my already sensitive nerves, the nerves that were beginning to catch on fire.

_Been too fucking long, far too fucking long._ I choked back a scream, as he thrust into me again, not knowing how thin or thick the walls were, last thing we needed was someone to come running in here and find us like this.

"Feels good doesn't it?" He growled giving a hard thrust. "Feels good having a dick in you, doesn't it?"

I gave a soft moan squeezing my eyes shut, the pleasure rolling through me had my guts in knots, a familiar feeling tightening there, coiling tight like a spring. "Fuck yes" I panted softly uncaring of the pain of my hips being crushed against the wall with each thrust, if I couldn't walk for a few days so be it, I could just sleep it off anyway.

"Shit," He hissed between his teeth, breath catching in his throat. "Fuck this feels good"

I shuddered lightly arching the centre of my back off the wall and let out a soft moan into his ear as I tightened my grip through his hair. "Fuck me harder," I moaned lightly. "Come on **_Dixon_**," I growled lowly against his ear, a smirk winding its way to my lips. "Make me **_feel_** this"

He growled darkly, hips thrusting hard against mine before he let out a choked moan into my shoulder, his body tensing as he dug his nails into me, mouth attacking the front of my throat as I tipped my head back letting out a soft cry, pleasure radiating through me at my release.

His muscles tensed again under my fingers. "That's it Neon," He growled softly kissing his way up my throat. "Cum for me" He murmured against my lips before crushing them together as he finally let himself go, hips thrusting hard against mine as he came.

I exhaled panting softly and rested my forehead against his looking up through my eyelashes at him. "You know this isn't going to be a _'one time thing'_ right? Not after that performance"

Daryl shrugged holding me against the wall. "What do I care?" He grinned nuzzling the skin on my neck. "You're a good fuck"

I chuckled lightly pushing lightly against him so I could stand. "So are you _bogha_"

He smirked lightly before dragging me under the water to help me clean up.

* * *

All I can say is it's about fucking time. I'm sorry this took so long but I forgot all about updating here after posting on AO3 and I've been busy replaying Dragon Age: Origin's and working on my Sims 3 stable and various pose requests for the sims in tandem with looking for a job, several various injuries recently and RL getting me down I've been stretched a bit thin recently, I'll get the next one out within the next few days hopefully.


	15. Ticking Time Bomb

**Disclaimer: **The Walking Dead and it's characters belong to their respective owners which is not me but I do however own Neon, Spud and other Characters that are not in the Walking Dead.

**psychovampgurl:** I know the feeling and thank you, I'm going to try and update a few more times before Christmas so stay tuned, more is on the way.

**Leyshla Gisel:** Don't worry, there will be much more smut down the line.

**FanFicGirl10:** Update is here!

**Nelle07:** Thanks doll, I've tried to make them understand each other to a degree.

* * *

**Ticking Time Bomb**

=Neon's P.O.V=

I woke with a soft groan, my mouth was dry like a goddamn desert, my body ached something wonderful and I was pressed up against someone equally as naked as I was, the warmth from their body pressed against my back radiating through my skin and into the muscle and bone underneath. I shifted making a move to get up and dressed before Daryl's grip tightened around my waist.

"Stay here" He mumbled nuzzling the back of my neck, one hand hooked firmly around my waist, the other pinned under his head serving as a pillow on the hard carpeted floor.

"Love to _bogha_ but the floor's doing my fuckin' bones in, I need to get up"

He grumbled softly turning over allowing me to get up, use the bathroom and get dressed.

I grinned softly nudging him. "Come on, there's got to be something for breakfast"

"Fuck off" He groused softly trying to get back to sleep.

"What if I tempt you with the promise of more wine and sex?"

He groaned cracking open an eye and glared lightly at me before slowly getting up and running a hand through his hair straightening it out with the quick movement. "You drive a hard bargain Neon"

I grinned fluffing his hair earning another glare before dodging the half hearted swipe as he tried to hit my legs with his hand. "Come on before people realise you spent the night in my room"

He snorted lightly shaking his head. "Like they ain't gonna see the hickey on your neck"

I fingered the tender spot lightly and grinned before grabbing a bottle of pain killers and exiting the room with Spud and heading down to the mess hall again before Spud raced off ahead of me. "Hey! Where the hell are you going Spud?" I sighed and shook my head lightly slipping into the mess hall before grabbing a glass and filling it with water; I downed it and refilled it, my mouth still horridly dry from the wine.

"You alright?"

I glanced to Jenner and nodded. "This is the entire reason I don't drink red wine, gives me a Sahara mouth the next morning" I stated downing my glass and refilling it again before sitting at the table.

It wasn't long until T-Dog, Jacqui, Glenn and Dale joined us shortly followed by Daryl, who looked far from impressed at being awake, and then Lori, Carl, Carol, Sophia and Andrea.

I leant back in my chair zoning out before looking to Spud as he came waltzing in, his short stumpy tail wagging enthusiastically, I patted his head before looking to Daryl grinning softly.

"Oh my god, what happened to your neck?" Lori exclaimed drawing my attention back to the conversation at the table.

I grinned softly fingering the deep bruise Daryl had left. "Nothing"

"That doesn't look like noth... Oh my god..." Lori's eyes went from me to Daryl and back to me.

My grin only broadened at her reaction. "Hey just 'cause it's a goddamn Shuffler fest... pandemic, whatever, out there doesn't mean I have to turn celibate, I've got fuckin' **_needs_** too you know"

"What does celibate mean?"

We all turned our eyes to Sophia as she asked. "It doesn't matter honey, just eat your eggs" Carol motioned to the plate in front of her daughter in an attempt to sway her from the conversation at hand.

I glanced up as Rick entered the room followed shortly by Shane, the topic of discussion moving off my neck and onto Rick's hangover.

"Don't ever, ever, ever let me drink again"

I chuckled lightly opening the bottle and tipped out a few into my hand before closing it off and sliding it over to Glenn. "The only time drugs will be your friend, they should help that pounding in the front and back of your skull" I stated throwing mine back with a mouthful of water

He nodded his thanks opening the bottle and downing a few with his water before handing it back to me. "Thanks Neon" He groaned lowly hiding his head again away from the bright artificial light above us.

"I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing..."

"But you will anyway" Jenner murmured cutting Dale off as he filled his coffee cup.

"We didn't come here for the eggs" Andrea cut in twisting to see him.

I looked to Jenner and stood as he beckoned us to follow him before we followed him to the main computer station.

* * *

"Scan to the second event"

I watched the screen as the computer scanned to the second event in the brain projected on the screen in front of us.

"The resurrection times vary wildly, we had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes, the longest we heard of was eight hours," Jenner motioned to the screen. "In the case of this patient it was two hours, one minute, seven seconds"

I furrowed my brow lightly moving my eyes from the screen to Jenner, there was something off about the way he talked, I moved my eyes back to the screen watching the brain as it began to shift and change, pulses beginning to fire through it again. "So this thing does what? Restart the brain?"

Jenner moved his eyes from the screen to me. "Not quite, it only restarts the brain stem, basically it gets them up and moving"

"But they're not alive?"

"You tell me"

I looked to the brain on the screen, it looked nothing like before, nothing like its previous state, it was dark, mostly blacked out now. _That's dead, nothing like before, before the __**entire**__ brain was functioning, now it's just a single part of it._

"The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part, that doesn't come back, the **_you_** part," He let his eyes drift back to the screen. "It's just a lifeless shell"

"Oh god, what was that?"

"Forty five" I stated before looking to Jenner, his eyes were away from the screen, unable to look at it. _There's something he's not telling us._

"Vi power down the main screen and the work stations"

The computer answered with an affirmation and began to turn everything in the room off.

"You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea asked.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal..."

I looked to where the screen had been wondering just _who_ test subject 19 had been to Jenner.

"Somebody must know something, somebody, somewhere"

"What about other facilities?" I queried. "I'd take a stab and say this is a worldwide event not just a local one otherwise we'd have backup from allied countries so there must be other places like this in the world"

"There may be some, people like me"

"But you don't know, how can you not know?"

"Because of the power grids," I turned looking to Jenner who nodded. "This place is running off a back up source because there hasn't been shit for power for about a fuckin' month and a half now, when this all started the grids went down because there was no one to maintain them and those half dead bastards kept walking into the transformers"

Jenner nodded. "I've been in the dark for almost a month"

"So it's not just here, there's nothing left anywhere? Nothing?"

Jenner fell silent, unable to come up with an answer for Andrea.

"Man, I'ma get shitface drunk... again"

"Count me in" I called, my hand instinctively reaching for the photo tucked in my back pocket.

"Dr. Jenner I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but..." Dale pointed to a clock on the wall that was counting down. "That clock, it's counting down, what happens at zero?"

"The basement generators... they run out of fuel" He stated before turning and walking off ignoring Rick's questions.

I sighed softly looking to Spud and patting his head lightly before looking to Daryl as Rick took Shane, T-Dog and Glenn to find the basement. "Still gettin' drunk?"

He nodded heading down the hall, I turned following him with Spud tagging along beside me, there was plenty of wine left even after we drank a good deal of the bottles over the course of the night after our little escapades in the shower and on the floor.

* * *

Updating everything today, enjoy I'm off to go and write some more towards my Stolen Tune story because I've been sorely neglecting it recently, trying to get a few chapters ahead of what I'm posting on each of my stories.


	16. Reason to Live

**Disclaimer: **The Walking Dead and it's characters belong to their respective owners which is not me but I do however own Neon, Spud and other Characters that are not in the Walking Dead.

**Leyshla Gisel:** Thanks lovely.

**FanFicGirl10:** Next chap is here and another will be out in the morning.

**psychovampgurl:** Lol, thank you and more smoochies will be along later ;P

* * *

**Reason to Live**

=Neon's P.O.V=

I leant against the door frame as everyone poked their heads out of their rooms.

"What's goin' on? Why's everything turning off?" Daryl asked swinging lazily on the door frame before Jenner snatched the half empty bottle out of his hand.

"Energy use is being prioritized"

"Air isn't a priority? And the lights?"

Jenner shook his head taking a drink form the bottle. "It's not up to me, Zone five is shutting itself down"

"'_Shutting itself down'_? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" I snapped lightly.

"Hey man, she's talkin' to you, what do you mean it's shutting itself down? How can a building do anything?"

"You'd be surprised," We followed him down the stairs to the main work stations; he only stopped to hand the bottle back to Daryl who snatched the bottle out of his hands. "It was the French" His words directed towards Andrea.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" I growled lowly.

"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know, while our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways they stayed in the labs till the end," His eyes shifted away from us. "They thought they were close to a solution"

"Well what the fuck happened to them then?"

"Same thing that's happening here," He motioned to me. "You pointed it out before, no power grid; the entire world is run off fossil fuels"

Shane started forward only to be grabbed back by Rick who was trying to calm him before turning to us. "Everyone grab your things, we're getting out of here now"

I turned to head back towards the hallway we'd come from, Spud at my heels before siren's began to go off around us. I jumped back a step as the doorway before me closed off and growled turning and glaring at Jenner, he was blocking my exit, my only way to get out and find Quinn, Connor and Amelia, automatically it meant he had to die.

It was only seconds before Daryl was running at him and Rick was yelling at Shane to grab him.

"Jenner open that door now"

"There's no point, everything topside is locked down, the emergency exits are sealed"

I growled, my vision blurring with unfiltered rage as I started towards Jenner and drew my S&W from the back of my jeans before pushing past Rick and laying the barrel of the gun against Jenner's temple pulling back the hammer until it clicked into place. "You let us out of here **_now_** or I blow your fuckin' brain out the side of your skull" I growled darkly.

"I can't"

I could feel everyone's eyes on me and heard the click of another hammer before feeling Rick's Colt dig into my temple. "Put the gun down Neon"

"You'd better be prepared to use that Rick, 'cause I ain't lowering my gun," I growled before looking to Jenner. "Let us out, I don't give a shit how you do it but you're gonna do it"

"No I won't... I can't do it, the computer controls everything... it's... it's better this way anyway"

"Why? What happens in twenty eight minutes?"

I growled as he refused to answer Rick's question, the colt still resting against my temple. "Vi, what happens when the timer runs out?"

"Station wide decontamination will occur"

"Clarify"

"H.I.T.S will be deployed throughout the entire building"

I felt every muscle in my body tense, my hand holding the gun growing sweaty as a cold sweat clung to my skin. "You prick, you fuckin' bastard prick!"

"What? What are H.I.T.S?"

I turned to look at Rick. "They're a weapon, bombs basically; H.I.T.S stands for high impulse thermobaric fuel air explosives," I turned back to Jenner glaring at him. "It's sets the air on fire, we'll die before our bodies even begin to burn, the shock wave from a building of this size would kill us instantly," I growled, the pad of my finger sliding over the trigger slightly as I retightened my grip on my S&W. "You can't just choose for us," I snarled. "I don't want to _'opt out'_ as you so eloquently put it, I've still got a reason to live, I've got a reason to be alive, a reason to keep going no matter what's thrown at me and I will damn well find a way out of here if it's the last thing I fuckin' do," I stated as calmly as I could. "You can't just choose for us, we want a chance to try and survive out there"

"Do you honestly think anyone else is still alive out there?" Jenner had a look over desperation mixed with a little bit of pity in his eyes.

"Aye, I do; my brother, my **_family_** is still out there and until I find them I won't give up, I won't lay down like a mongrel pup and take it; I'll fight, I'll kill, I'll fuckin' destroy anything that gets between me and my family, living, dead or other, **_nothing_** gets in my way of finding them"

"What makes you think they're even alive anymore?"

"Because I can feel it, I know in my head and in my heart that they're still alive out there, waiting for me to come and find them," I felt the pressure relieve from my temple. "You've gotta give us that chance, the chance to go on, to do what the human race does best when we get knocked back a few hundred years, we rebuild, we rebuild ten times greater than we ever were, rebuild ten times stronger than before"

"I... I can't..." Jenner shook his head, trying to reconfirm his resolve. "If I could I would but I... I can't"

I growled softly sliding my finger along the trigger again. "Then you leave me no choice" I murmured.

I growled as my balance was thrown off, the bullet ricocheting off the floor and into one of the computers frying it instantly. "Fuck!" I glared at Rick and started towards him jamming the barrel of my gun under his throat digging it into the soft underside of his jaw. "You stupid prick," I spat. "Next time you pull a fuckin' stunt like that I'll be putting a round between your eyes" I snarled tapping the middle of his forehead with the barrel of my S&W before turning away delivering a hefty kick to one of the workstations as I went.

* * *

I watched Shane and Daryl attack the door with all their might before coming back saying they couldn't make a dent.

"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher"

"Well your head ain't" Daryl snarled hauling the axe over his shoulder ready to take a swing at Jenner before Dale and Rick grabbed him.

I stood heading towards the door and rested my hand against it running my finger over the scratches the axes had made and looked to Spud who was sitting beside me, he whined softly standing and putting his paws on the door.

I looked to the blood that smeared across the door, the pad of my thumb catching on a jagged piece of one of the deeper scratches.

"Careful Neon"

I looked to Daryl and slowly looked back to the door. "Connor and Amelia are out there, they're out there in this **_hell_** and I'm gonna die here, in this god forsaken spit fuck of a building surrounded by people I barely know," I shook my head lightly, anger igniting in my veins as I grabbed the axe from his hand and swung hard at the door, the crack of metal hitting resistance sounded through the room again and again and again with each strike I made on the door. "I'm not dying here, not while my babies are out there, not while my brother is out there" I snarled swinging hard at the door ignoring the pain flaring through my back and between my shoulders, ignoring the sting of sweat in the rug burns on my forearms and back, ignoring the room and its inhabitants around me.

I went to throw another hit and met resistance, I turned glaring at Daryl. "Let go of the goddamn axe"

"Cool it Neon, you'll hurt yourself," He slid his hand along the wooden handle to where my blood had smeared across it from my thumb. "Give" He tugged freeing the axe from my grip and nudged me out the way continuing my fruitless attack on the door.

I turned away and leant against the metal railing of the ramp before stretching out and sighing heavily; I wanted to yell and scream, I wanted to curse the world out and whatever dozy fuck had come up with the virus or whatever the hell this was in the first place. _I __**ever**__ meet the fucker that started all this and I'll fucking bash their brains in with a metal pipe myself._ I turned as I heard Daryl stop attacking the door and watched it begin to lift. "Come on" I headed along the hall towards the room we'd been using and hastily grabbed my things throwing them into my bag before giving a whistle to Spud and heading back into the hallway following after Glenn and Daryl back towards the main entrance.

I skidded to a halt nearly slamming against the doors. "Shit," I cursed softly delivering a hard kick to them and sighed softly spinning on my heel looking for another way out. "There's gotta be another fuckin' way," I stepped back as Daryl and Shane began attacking another pane of glass. "If it's anything like that door it'll be resistant to almost everything"

I pulled Spud back out of the way as Shane fired at it, the shotgun spray only causing small spider web fractures around each piece of shrapnel. "Where's the goddamn plastique when you need it?" I growled lowly before moving behind the staircase leading to the upper floor with Daryl as Rick took his grenade from Carol.

I tugged Spud close burying my face into his coat and taking a deep breath, Daryl's hand wrapped around my wrist holding tight as the glass on the stairwell above us shattered showering us in tiny fragments.

"Come on" He tugged me up and towards the shattered window.

I stumbled slightly hauling Spud up so he wouldn't cut his feet on the glass and lowered him as soon as we were clear, I drew my Desert Eagle and fired at whatever Shuffler's were coming towards us before running towards my 'Am and opened the door letting Spud jump in before sliding in myself.

I looked towards the watch on the dash and exhaled grabbing Spud and getting us as low as I heard the shouts from the others; I felt my breathing hitch as the TransAm was rocked from the shock wave, a crack sounding through the interior as the passenger's window cracked under the force.

I looked to it and sighed shakily, my body shaky with adrenaline as I forced myself up and looked to Spud stroking his half ear. I placed the keys into the ignition and gripped the wheel, my hands shaking badly at how close I'd come to never seeing my babies again. "I gotta find them Spud, I gotta get them back, we need to leave and head out on our own, we can't just stick around with them forever, not anymore, not after this"


	17. Alliances

**Disclaimer: **The Walking Dead and it's characters belong to their respective owners which is not me but I do however own Neon, Spud and other Characters that are not in the Walking Dead.

**FanFicGirl10:** Update is here! And Neon's family will always be the driving force behind her forcing her to go on.

**Leyshla Gisel:** Honestly? I've been toying with the idea for a while now, still not sure if she should leave yet.

**witchbaby300:** My dear I cannot have you dying on me so here's the next chap :D and thank you very much for the encouraging words, I was smiling like an idiots when I read your review. As much as I would love Neon to be on the show I don't know who would play her, I have a very unique look in my mind for her. Most of the group is scared of her because she's seen war, she knows what it's like to kill another living breathing person, something that they all don't (I mean lets face it, most of them were living in the suburbs or the city, the only others to actually know what it's like to take a life are Merle, Shane and probably Rick). I'm not sure if she's perfect for him but she's definitely someone that can help him grow, the strong person to stand behind him and help him push his limits. There's definitely more of the fun sexy scene's to come, although the emotion with them may change as I throw Neon through the ringer a few times. I personally never pictured Daryl as a virgin, I pictured him as have adopted his brother mentality towards sex and love, you know, pick up a hooker or some down and out girl, shag her then cast her to the side. I would love to win an award but I'm sure there's plenty of other fics out there that are better than this one, I do like writing my characters with realism, especially if they're part of a show that's based on earth and it's not part of sci-fi or something like that, I definitely get a kick out of researching everything, especially weapons, weapons are always fun to look up.

* * *

**Alliances**

=Neon's P.O.V=

I stretched as I slipped out of my 'Am and groaned softly rolling my shoulders before giving a jerking nod to Carol and T-Dog as they passed. I leant back against my 'Am and lit a cigarette as I watched Spud race off to pee up against a tree and checked both gun clips before tucking them back into their holsters.

"What makes you think they'll take in strangers?"

My eye's fell to Andrea as she walked cautiously behind Daryl and Rick.

"Well the guns we gave 'em they'll probably throw us a party," Daryl stated pushing forward. "Good call," He moved further ahead. "For once" He threw back over his shoulder moving to the head of the group, he was still sour towards Rick over the whole near death explosion back at the CDC.

I watched Spud's hackles go up as we neared an old window in the seemingly abandoned foundation, his growls coming out soft and low as his head and body dropped lower into a more threatening pose. "On guard Spud" I scratched his half ear as I slipped through the missing window and watched his head lower, nose to the ground as he sniffed about for a moment, a deeper more feral growl slipping through his barred teeth.

I offered a hand to Carol who took it jumping down carefully before turning to help her daughter, my S&W at the ready, the still calmness of the place beginning to settle into my bones with a sense of dread. "Something's not right here"

"Where're the lookouts" Glenn queried looking around, his shotgun limp in his hands as we scouted the immediate vicinity.

I turned to Spud motioning for him to stick close and moved silently around one wall before stopping and listening, I could hear the sound of tearing and chewing and gave Daryl a shake of my head as we moved silently towards another courtyard; I flicked out my stiletto and gripped it tightly before motioning towards Lori to turn the children away and to keep them quiet.

I glanced at Rick and gave a jerk of my head, we would have to fire at the Walker's feasting on the carcasses, there were too many of them to get in too close and not get bit. I aimed lining up my barrel with one Walkers forehead and fired before repeating the process for several others, Spud standing back on guard near Lori, Carl, Andrea, Carol and Sophia.

I paused taking a breath as the last Walker fell and reloaded my S&W before switching it out for my Desert Eagle. I looked to Rick and nodded towards the building. "Spud and I will take point," I stated and looked to Spud. "Seek Spud" I gave him a motion to follow on as Rick gave a reluctant nod.

I stepped through the doorway with my Eagle out and carefully inched around the various pieces of equipment and shelving being extra careful not to touch any loose pieces, Spud traveled a few steps ahead of me weaving effortlessly around various discarded items. Spud stopped and crouched low giving a low rumbling growl that almost sounded like distant thunder, I dropped down behind an overturned desk and pressed my back against it before glancing over the top of it and swiftly moved to the left around the corner of the desk before weaving through the metal shelving units to come up behind the still Walker, it was stood stock still, soft growls emitting from it before I came up behind it and sunk my stiletto into the top of its skull.

I tugged and grimaced at the grating of the well lodged blade against the skull bone as it started to slide free, I tugged harder and held my breath for a moment at a sickening squeak of the blade against the bone and grabbed the Walker laying it out silently before stepping over it giving Spud a low whistle.

I moved through the rest of the room quickly and leant against the cold brickwork of the wall before peering out the broken double doors into another small courtyard, other than one corpse there was nothing to be concerned about.

I ventured into the courtyard with my Desert Eagle raised and stopped holding my breath for a second as I spotted an open door leading into a building; I spun on the balls of my feet at a noise behind me and lowered my gun slowly as Rick came out of the building I'd just come through, I nodded towards the open doors and started towards them back against them for a second before slipping inside followed by Rick and Daryl. We fanned out covering and clearing each room as the others filed in behind us.

"Put a sock in it" Daryl snapped turning towards Sophia as she turned away from one of the rooms towards her mother and began to cry.

Carol glared towards him. "Leave her alone"

I cleared another room glancing around before stepping over a pool of blood and another elderly body.

"Shut her up or I will"

"Back the hell off," Lori snarled. "And I mean now"

"All of you shut the fuck up" I snapped lowly pressing myself against a wall and clearing another room.

Lori's eyes narrowed at me before she turned to Rick. "Are we staying or going?"

"We don't have the fuel"

"We hunker down for the night," Shane interjected. "Rick, you, me, Neon and Daryl will sweep the building, make sure we're alone"

Rick gave a nod and turned towards the rest of the group. "The rest of you barricade those doors"

I turned towards a set of double doors and nodded towards them wrapping a hand around one handle and gave Shane a one, two, three count silently before we wrenched them open allowing him and Daryl to take point and sweep the room.

We carefully moved across the room, Spud staying silent beside me as we checked each body. I knelt beside one of the older men and checked him over frowning at the bullet hole in the centre of his forehead and shook my head. _Someone ripped through here; they probably took off with all the guns Rick left them._ I placed a hand on the corpse and pulled it away. "They're not warm, it had to have been a few days ago that this happened" I commented as I stood.

Daryl glanced up from checking over another body and nodded as we followed after Rick following him out and up a small stairwell before beginning to cover and clear each room systematically on the upper floor. As we cleared the last room it became all too apparent that something big had gone down here after Rick and the others had left them.

I slowly made my way back downstairs tucking my Desert Eagle into its holster and rolled my shoulders stretching my spine slightly before we stepped into the small meeting hall again, the others of the group not far behind.

"Upstairs is our best bet," Rick explained. "We've cleared a few rooms, we can barricade those if we have too," He moved his eyes over the group trying to reassure them. "We'll be alright"

"You mean it this time? Or are you lying to us like all the time's before?"

"That's unfair and no help at all"

I turned away from checking one of the bodies to glance over my shoulder at the group, the stress was beginning to make people fracture. I shook my head lightly and turned back to the body before standing and flexing my hands. I grimaced slightly at the patch of sticky blood soaking my right knee and sighed softly scratching Spud's ear.

"What the hell happened?" Glenn queried looking over the mass of dead bodies.

"What do you think? They got overrun" Andrea answered him, arms folded as she shivered slightly.

I snorted softly looking away from the group and tried to spot one corpse that had a bite wound on it. Daryl gave a louder snort from beside me drawing Andrea's attention.

"Something to say?"

"Yeah," He snapped back mirroring her snotty attitude. "How about observant?"

"Observant? Big word from a guy like you," I shook my head rolling my eyes and leant against the edge of one of the tables as she continued to berate him. "Three whole syllables"

"Walkers didn't do this," He motioned to the massacre. "Geeks didn't show up until _all_ this went down, somebody attacked this place, killed all these people, took whatever they wanted," He motioned towards one body. "All shot in the head execution style," He looked up, his tone supposed to be informative but turning more sinister instead. "Ya'll worried about Walkers, I'd be much more worried about the people that came and did all this," He turned towards Andrea as he hefted his crossbow up over his shoulder. "Get a dictionary, look it up, _observant_"

Andrea's eyes fell as he walked out of the room, she didn't like being put in her place, especially by someone like him.

* * *

I leant against one of the walls outside one of the rooms, Spud was curled up at Sophia's feet keeping her company, everyone else was spread out leaning against various objects in one of the rooms. I shifted my weight onto my other foot and leant my head back against the wall sighing heavily and closed my eyes briefly imagining what I would have been doing at this time if the world hadn't gone to shit. I would have been just finishing dinner, Connor would have been on the Xbox and Amelia would have just been finishing up her homework.

I opened my eyes slowly letting my grip slip on the happy image in my head and rubbed at my cheek flexing my jaw and listening to the joints crack before stepping into the room and taking a seat on the floor as Rick and Shane came in.

"We ransacked the kitchen, all we found is one can" Shane threw it towards Daryl.

"They hit the dispensary too, tore the door of its hinges, took everything except this" Rick handed the package to Lori.

"So we came back for cough drops and some _Garbanzo beans_" Daryl shook his head with a snort as he set into opening the can.

"Is there any water?"

"Just the one bottle I brought," Shane stated opening the bottle and handing it to Sophia. "Just a few sips, gotta make it last, gotta go for everyone ok?"

"What else you got in there?"

Shane rifled through the bag and pulled out a small package shaking it with a sarcastic smile.

I exhaled slowly leaning my head back against the wall I was leaning on and slowly opened them at the nudge of a wet nose against my cheek. "Lay off Spud" I muttered scratching behind his ear and closed my eyes again continuing to stroke his head as he lay down placing it in my lap.

"That to share?"

I looked up to find Shane holding a bottle of wine from the CDC and shook my head slightly, a smile twitching at my lips.

"Seeing as how I owe you my life," He held the bottle out to Daryl. "Guess I... I'ma go ahead and be nice to you from now on"

"I'd go easy on that stuff, let's not forget where we are"

"Yes ma'am" Daryl popped the top off and took a long pull from the bottle.

"Neon?"

I slowly opened my eyes and forced a smile to my lips as I took the plate Dale handed me. "Thanks" I put the plate on the ground leaving it for Spud and opened the packet of Saltine's staring at them blankly for a moment before slowly beginning to eat. I closed my eyes again and leant my head back against the wall before sighing softly and beginning to hum softly, anything to take my mind of the increasingly desperate situation at hand.

"That sounds familiar"

I cracked open my eyes and glanced over towards Glenn. "Chorus of Feel Good Inc" I closed my eyes again listening to everything around me.

"What's next? We need to decide"

"Fort Benning Rick"

I felt the corner of my lips twitch in an involuntary bitter smile. _After that shit in the CDC I doubt Fort Benning will even still be standing._ I tuned out the conversation for a moment, lost in the thoughts of what I was going to do next, it was getting harder and harder to turn around and say '_screw you I'm going off on my lonesome again'_. I opened my eyes slowly exhaling slightly looking at the cold bottle of wine pressed against my forearm and took a long pull from the bottle handing it back to Daryl before shutting my eyes again, I was getting tired, tired of running, tired of people telling me what to do like they knew me better than I knew myself and more importantly tired of having to fight to survive.

"All these people," Glenn's voice cut through the silence in my head. "Who would have done something like this, just come in here and murder everybody," I opened my eyes looking towards him. "Even all the old people, how sick is that?"

"Is this something we need to be discussing right now?" Lori asked as she went to sit back next to Carl.

"Actually we probably should" I interjected earning a glare from Lori.

"Don't you start too"

I rolled my eyes as I stood. "Being a realist bites doesn't it?" I threw Glenn a half hearted grin as I stepped out of the room to stretch my legs and pace in private, my thoughts clouded slightly from everything that had gone on over the course of the day.

"Hey, the kids in there are terrified," I looked over at the small group that emerged from the room. "And most of the women"

"Guys I'm really sorry"

"We're all rattled and exhausted and no one's thinking clearly but we have to start, our lives depend on it"

"You're damn right," Shane muttered. "We can't ever let our guard down again"

I snorted softly from my spot where I'd taken to leaning against the wall listening to them and shook my head lightly.

"What?"

"I'm surprised, you say that yet you still want to go to Fort Benning," I stated looking towards Shane. "After what happened at the CDC what makes you think it's a viable option anymore?"

"It's attitudes like that, that aren't helping," Rick stated forcing himself between Shane and I. "You're being pessimistic about the situation"

"I'm not being a pessimist," I turned and glared at Rick. "I'm being a realist, there's a difference and I would have expected you to know it, and I'm being one since apparently no one in this group wants to be, and I'm also sorry that sometimes the truth hurts but some people in this fuckin' group need to hear it so they can get their shit together and pick their hearts up off the fuckin' floor"

"We've just lost a member of the group barely a day ago, people need time to grieve" Rick stated.

"Then let them grieve on their own time, in a situation like what we're in there is no time to stand around and wait for people to grieve, it needs to be put on the back burner so we can focus on _surviving_"

"Well some of us aren't emotionless robots like you" Shane snapped back at me.

"I'm not emotionless, nor am I a robot, I just know what it's like to lose people that you care about and I also know that in the middle of a fuckin' warzone you cannot stop and cry over someone you've lost"

"Look let's just stop this and get some rest, everyone's tired and we're all starting to fray a bit so why don't we all just sleep on it over the night"

I exhaled roughly blowing a strand of hair out of my eyes and turned away slipping back into the room and sliding back down against the wall with Spud curling up at my feet.

* * *

Alright, if this scene makes little sense to you it means you probably haven't seen the deleted scenes from S2, it's what this is from. The group head back and come across the nursing home with all the residents slaughtered, I honestly think it was a pretty awesome scene pretty much because miss high and mighty Andrea gets completely owned by redneck Daryl, if you haven't seen it look it up on youtube or google, it's well worth watching.

On another note I got myself a drawing tablet and I'm in the middle of sketching up, lining and inking Neon so as soon as I have her portrait finished I'll direct you all to it so you can have a look at her, I'm busy doing my other oc's as well mostly because I'm pretty fucking bored and need something to occupy my time in between finding a job and writing my novel. I'm almost finished with my portrait of Taru so as soon as she's done I'll get onto Neon.


	18. Carrying On

**Disclaimer: **The Walking Dead and it's characters belong to their respective owners which is not me but I do however own Neon, Spud and other Characters that are not in the Walking Dead.

**writergrrrl:** I agree but I would also say that's why she's staying with them because she knows how much the group needs her.

**witchbaby300:** Haha, happy dance indeed. I guess most people would expect a military base to be safe but well when the zombies come society will fall and when that happens I'm moving to Madagascar (Those of you who have played the pandemic games will get that reference). I had to scrap the colouring of Taru's pic because it fucked me off and looked nasty so I'm currently redoing it but I'll have one of Neon up soon, I'm trying to get a ref pic done of all her tatt's too.

**FanFicGirl10:** The world would be a very different place if everyone was like Neon, but she's like that because she knows what she has to face when it comes to fighting for her life, she's seen all the smoke and blood before on the battlefield and I guess in someway its twisted her.

**Jennie:** Thanks doll.

**Leyshla Gisel:** I highly recommend watching them, some of them are actually pretty funny and give a bit more to the shows story line.

**Music is my Love and Life:** Glad to hear it love, more will be along soon.

* * *

**Carrying On**

=Daryl's P.O.V=

I looked to Neon as she helped me haul Merle's Bonneville off the back of my pick up; we were ditching the van, pick up and the jeep in favour of just the RV, Carol's wagon, the Bonneville and the 'Am. Shane had tried to tell Neon to leave the 'Am behind, that it wasn't needed and she went as far as to being willing to start a fist fight with him over it as she spat both English and Gaelic curses at him.

The one thing I'd noticed is she'd become more distant and quiet since the incident at the CDC and the incident at the nursing home. "Neon"

She looked up giving a jerk of her head. "What?" Her voice had a rough edge to it, a cold biting edge to it.

"You all good?"

She shrugged lightly. "Peachy"

"Bullshit"

She made no attempt at covering the fact that she gave a heavy blatant roll of her eyes. "Just thinking about everything," She rolled her shoulders stretching slightly. "Let's just get our shit packed and back on the road, yeah?"

I stalled holding one of the handlebars of the Bonneville, her hand wrapped around the other, fingers lightly caressing the end; I couldn't help the grin that wound to my lips. "I'll give you a ride sometime if you want"

She laughed softly. "Already been there _bogha,_" She grinned back before leaning against the tail gate of my truck and slipped two cigarettes into her mouth lighting them before handing one over. "How do you think I wound up with two kids?"

I accepted the cigarette and settled beside her as the others moved their things from car to car or to the RV while T-Dog and Shane set about trying to siphon gas out of the other cars around us.

I took Neon in carefully, she looked pale and unwell, something was eating at her and it was killing her from the inside. I shifted my hand closer to hers, an awkward gesture at best, I'd never been real big on the whole comforting shit; not when I grew up with Merle, who would tease the hell out of me over shit like this, and in a household where nobody even noticed when I was gone.

Neon's gun metal grey eyes move to our hands, a smile tugging at her lips as she hooked her little finger with mine before moving her hand over the top of mine, the calluses on her fingertips sending a shiver through my skin.

"We'll find 'em," I stated drawing my eyes up to hers. "We'll find all of 'em; Merle, your brother and your two kids too" I murmured watching the pain as it surfaced in her eyes.

"I know," She forced a bitter smile to her lips. "I know we'll find them, I just dread **_what_** we'll find when we do" She turned her head away and tipped the ash off the end of her cigarette before removing her hand from mine.

"They'll be fine, they'll be kickin' ass and takin' names with the business end of a rifle"

She nodded lightly, a brief smile dancing over her lips before she looked to Spud who was lounging in the sun. "Amelia always begged for a puppy, always wanted one but we could never have one," She murmured before looking to me. "We used to live in one of those big open loft apartments in the Irish side of Boston, the manager was a fuckin' arsehole," She grinned lightly. "Can't say I'm not happy I got to put a round through his fat ugly fuckin' face"

I nodded taking a drag on the cigarette between my lips before letting the lungful of asinine smoke out between my teeth. I took Neon in, long brunette hair reaching almost to her waist, a thick strip of neon green running down the right side of her face from her parting with dark gun metal grey irises; she was tall, 5ft10 at the least with a strong, well built athletic frame, skin stretched over underlying muscles giving her enough definition but a softness around her edges giving curves to her hardened frame, her hips were wide and her breasts a bit bigger than what I would have expected from a woman like her but that would have all been from the birth of both of her children not that I could really complain about them.

"I'm gonna chop this lot off" She stated suddenly drawing the stiletto switch blade from her pocket, the blade flicking out with a minute press of a button.

"What? Why?"

"Starting to get to long," She shrugged. "I was gonna chop most of it off before, I was getting sick of braiding it all the time," She stated twisting the blade in her hand watching the light bouncing off the design engraved into the Damascus blade. "Plus it's less for those Shufflers to grab hold of"

"Less for me to grab hold of too" I murmured thinking about the drunken night we'd spent on the floor a day and a half ago now.

A playful grin slipped to her lips as her cheeks tinted red. "Aye but maybe that a good thing," She gave me a sideways glance. "I'm pretty sure you ripped out a few hairs with how hard you were tugging"

I looked away and felt the heat rise up my neck and cheeks before the sight of brunette strands falling out the corner of my eyes drew my attention back to her, she pulled the handfuls of hair tight sawing with the blade in her hand and dropping the handful of loose hair to the ground once it was cut free.

It only took a few minutes until her hair was chopped from nearly to her waist to just hanging messily around her jaw, she stood moving to the wing mirror of my pick up and pulled it out bending slightly and tidying up a few more strands before giving a nod of satisfaction and fluffed it out. "So _bogha_ what do you think?"

I took her in again; it was different, definitely different but looked a bit better than her long hair. I offered a shrug. "Looks alright"

She nodded cleaning the blade off before looking up at the rest of the group that was staring in silence. "What?"

"Why did you just cut most of your hair off?" Lori asked staring at her like she'd grown another head.

Neon shrugged. "Felt like it," She stated snapping the blade shut with another flick of her wrist before looking around the group with a dead pan look on her face. "Have I never mentioned I can be impulsive?"

"No"

"Ah, well then," A bright lopsided grin slipped to her lips, a glimmer of insanity behind her grey eyes making them shine. "I can be"

"Let's get back on the road, we can't waste all day standing around," Dale stated motioning to the road. "There's still a lot of ground between us and Fort Benning"

I nodded filling my two saddle bags with my things from my pick up and throwing the rest into the RV. I watched Neon for a second as she lit another cigarette in the driver's seat of her 'Am, hand hanging carelessly out the window, dark sunnies now shading her eyes as she settled back in her seat and waited for the convoy to set out again. I shook my head lightly kicking the Bonneville into life and tossed the dying cigarette aside before starting off down the road, the RV pulling out after me with the TransAm behind it and finally the wagon._ I gotta get her out of my head._

* * *

Happy Valentines day my dears, I thought I'd put this out for you all today so enjoy my dears and have a good day/night/whatever where ever you are.

Right now I'm going through some various shit with my emotions, I'm slowly picking myself up and am doing pretty well today but it's fluctuating from day to day, with whatever mood I'm in I'm concentrating on writing those parts within all my stories so my Horsepower series is getting the special attention because that's the road it's going to be heading towards pretty soon.


	19. Death Trap Layered in Icing

**Disclaimer: **The Walking Dead and it's characters belong to their respective owners which is not me but I do however own Neon, Spud and other Characters that are not in the Walking Dead.

**witchbaby300:** As soon as I'm done fiddling around with her portrait I'll throw it up on DA and show it too everyone.

**FanFicGirl10:** It will indeed be interesting if they do and I have the perfect set up for them all reuniting, just have to tweak it and work it around a bit first.

**Music is my Love and Life:** Sorry my dear, I will try and post more but I'm not sure how much more I'll be able to post since I've been offered a job working with a show jumping rider as his groom.

**Leyshla Gisel:** Hehe, everyone is anxious about her kids but the thing is what condition will they be in when they eventually reunite?

* * *

**Death Trap Layered in Icing**

=Neon's P.O.V=

I pulled up off to the side near the RV and poked my head out the window as Dale and the others got out of the RV. "What's up?"

"Radiators spitting out steam again"

I nodded sliding out of my 'Am and let Spud out before watching him race towards one of the cars and cock his leg up peeing against its wheel before his hackles went up slightly, eyes focused on the end of the road we'd come from. "Stick close Spud" I called before heading towards RV. _It's like a fuckin' vehicle cemetery out here._ I peered into one of the cars spying rotting, almost skeletal, bodies lying in it.

"Got a problem Dale?

"Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of..." Dale trailed off before looking around. "Ok that was dumb"

I moved my attention to Daryl who was sifting through the back of one of the cars.

"There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find" He called pushing some things to one side in the car he was searching through.

"I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start"

"Maybe some water?" Carol asked.

"Or food"

"This is a graveyard"

I twisted slightly looking to Lori. "Aye and I told you highways were fuckin' death traps layered in icing but too late for that and with any luck, now, we can scavenge up some stuff to make it somewhere semi safe without having to stop again" I turned heading back to my 'Am and reached through the window grabbing both my guns from the dash and slid them into their holsters before heading out down the trail of deserted cars.

I watched Spud as he walked a few metres ahead of me, head down scanning from side to side, his hackles up as he prowled, the occasional growl coming from him. I stopped and glanced into one of the cars grimacing slightly at the sight before feeling a hand brush over my hips and lower back.

I jerked slightly and looked back before glaring at Daryl. "Trying to get your head blown off _bogha_"

"Find anything good?"

I shrugged lightly. "Not yet"

He nodded leaning into another car and rifling through a bag before coming back out empty handed. "What's he looking for?" Daryl jerked his head towards Spud as he sniffed the ground.

"There's probably Shufflers around here," I stated grinning as I placed a foot onto the bumper of a pickup truck and boosted myself to grab handle wrapped in cord that was sticking out of the canvas. "Oh darlin' you are gorgeous" I grinned brightly grabbing a rag from the back of the pickup and wiped it down the dead straight blade.

Daryl whistled lowly between his teeth. "Jungle machete, nice"

I nodded lightly checking the back of the pickup for a sheath and clipped it onto my belt before sliding the machete in and glanced back to see Rick running towards Lori, Carol and the kids, he motioned for us to get down before pointing back to the RV. "Shit" I cursed softly seeing the Walkers heading our way.

"Get under the pickup," Daryl motioned to the car. "You and Spud, hurry up" He urged before sliding round the cars and heading off.

"Spud" I hissed and pointed to the pickup before dropping down and rolling underneath it, I exhaled slowly as Spud dropped down crawling under with me.

I swallowed roughly hooking an arm around him and drawing him flush against me before burying my face into his fur at the sound of shuffling footsteps getting closer, their gurgles, growls and moans sent chills through my bones as the first one began to shuffle past.

I took a quick glance and clutched the vibrating dog closer; every muscle in his body was twitching as he waited for a signal to fight. I wrapped a hand around the chain collar around his neck and wrapped my other hand around the family rosary around my neck holding both close as they all began to shuffle past, some veering off at the smell or sight of something interesting, the others just continuing on their merry way up the road.

I exhaled staying completely still and silent for a good minute or two after they passed before rolling onto my back and letting go of Spud so I could move to take a look outside. I pushed myself onto my hands and knees taking a glance around as I stood and slowly let out the breath I'd been holding before dropping back down and motioning for Spud to get out and follow me.

I moved silently back towards the RV, everyone was stood, Carol in tears with Lori holding her. "What happened?"

"Walker found Sophia, Rick when after her"

I nodded lightly and exhaled between my teeth. "She'll be fine; Rick will do what he can to find her"

Carol wiped at her tears as Rick came back. "I managed to draw the Walkers off, is she back yet?"

"No"

Rick looked back to the wooded area behind him. "Daryl," He looked towards Daryl. "You, Shane and Glenn come with me, the rest of you stay here encase she makes it back, we'll go out and search for her" He turned grabbing his rifle from Shane before the four of them headed out again.

* * *

I shifted slightly on the bonnet of the off creamy coloured car I was sitting on. "Did a good fuckin' number, didn't you?" I muttered softly wiping at the gash down T-Dog's arm and pressing a pad to it before placing his hand over it as I began to thread a needle.

"How bad is it?"

I glanced up at Dale who was peering over my shoulder. "He doesn't get some proper medical help soon and it'll get infected; worst thing, he dies from the infection, best is he dies from the blood loss instead"

"I ain't lettin' no little cut take me out" T-Dog mumbled, body swaying slightly as he tried to stay up right.

"Aye, keep talking tough guy," I muttered checking the wound over again and wiping away more blood. "Only thing we can do is raid our supplies and keep as much pressure on it as we can for now until we come across something to combat the infection that'll settle in soon, if worst comes to worst he might lose the arm"

"You sure you can stitch it?"

I glanced over at Andrea and nodded. "Aye, stitched up myself more times than I care to count but problem is finding meds , I haven't got anything nearly strong enough to fight the infection so someone needs to go and search the mass fuckin' death trap for som..."

"I wish you'd stop calling it that"

"Why? Because I'm right and you don't want to hear the truth? Or because I'm telling it like I see it and it's hurting your feelings?"

Lori went to snap back at me before shutting her mouth and glaring at me and my back chat before turning back to Carol who was stood watching the wooded area waiting for the men to come back with an answer.

I wiped away some more blood before beginning to stitch the gash shut as soon as I finished I applied a small amount of antiseptic cream to the wound and put a pad over the wound strapping it tight with medical tape. "Now go sit your arse in the RV and get some rest, drink water and have a bite to eat, anything that keeps your blood sugar up but steer clear of alcohol because I ain't got shit to stop the bleeding" I called watching him amble into the RV with Dale's help before turning as Glenn and Shane appeared.

"Did you find her?"

"Daryl and Rick are still lookin', too many of us would have mucked up the trail," Shane stated. "We need to get the RV and other cars ready to move for when we find her that means moving some of these cars so we can turn the RV round and scavenging up some more supplies since we can't go on through this," He motioned to the blocked road. "Lori, you and Glenn start sifting through the cars, see what you can find and siphon some gas out, Andrea and I will start moving these cars, Dale and Neon can get a radiator hose out of the truck and start fixin' the RV"

I gave a nod taking the tools from Dale as he came back out and set to work trying to get the radiator hose out of the truck.

* * *

Alright, so as I mentioned at the top I'm not sure how much more I'll be able to post since I've gotten a job offer as a live in groom for a show jumping rider here in NZ, it means I'll be in charge of 9 competition horses of international calibre at home as well as grooming and having everything ready for shows, big bonus is that I'll be attending Horse of the Year (This is all depending on him actually accepting me and not someone else) but other than that I don't have anything else big to report, I updated Spud's pic on DeviantART, you can find the link to my gallery over on my profile page.

More will be out soon I hope my dears, if I get the job I'll try and post another chap before I leave but if I don't post for a long while you'll know what's happened.


	20. Another Sleepless Night

**Disclaimer: **The Walking Dead and it's characters belong to their respective owners which is not me but I do however own Neon, Spud and other Characters that are not in the Walking Dead.

**witchbaby300:** A family reunion is definitely on the tables as is finally finding out Neon's real name.

**LadyLecter47:** I'm slowly getting back into it but it may take a little while longer.

**FanFicGirl10:** Here's the update doll, sorry for taking so long.

**Leyshla Gisel:** Well we won't be seeing them for a while yet but I don't know if I have the heart to actually go ahead and hurt them, it would be interesting but them what I have planned for Neon if I hurt her kids it might just kill her.

**BlackRose851:** Thank you doll.

* * *

**Another Sleepless Night**

=Neon's P.O.V=

I stretched out on the passenger's seat of my 'Am, the night had set in forcing both Daryl and Rick to come back and without Sophia which had set Carol into a tail spin forcing everyone away from her. I idly stroked Spud's head and sighed softly chewing on one of the sour gummy snakes out of an unopened packet I'd found in one of the cars.

I turned my head looked towards the RV; Dale, Andrea, Carol, Glenn, T-Dog and Daryl all had to share the cramped space while Lori, Carl and Rick were sleeping in the wagon and Shane was in his own ride he'd fixed up.

I shifted slightly under the blanket and sighed closing my eyes in another attempt to get some sleep, I could see out the window Daryl was sitting atop the RV with his crossbow in hand and binoculars watching out for Walkers.

I shuddered at the thought of Amelia and Connor being out here alone in all this and sat up unable to just sit and waste the night away like I usually did. I opened the door and stretched as I got out before slinging my hoodie on and my denim jacket over the top.

"What're you doing?"

I looked up at Daryl as I leant on the top of the TransAm. "Going for a walk"

"Where?"

I jerked my head along the road. "That way," I stated before grabbing my machete and two side arms. "I'll stick close don't worry and Spud'll be with me as well" I stated watching Spud jump out and shake himself off.

"Alright," He seemed reluctant to let me go. "Call out if ya'll need help"

I gave a nod to show I'd heard and shut the door softly before heading up the road with my hands jammed in my pockets, Spud lazily walking beside me and occasionally stopping to pee up a car wheel.

I walked silently, that perpetual feeling of being watched had the hairs on the back of my neck standing upright. I began humming softly trying to clear my head of all thoughts; it was like an incredibly slow suicide being this far away from my children.

I sighed softly looking up at the stars and wondered how far I could walk before Daryl or someone else came after me, I looked towards the trees as the wind whipped through them making them rustle and creak softly, the occasional snap of a twig playing hell with my already over alert senses. _Maybe this wasn't the best idea._ I glanced back over my shoulder almost surprised at the distance I'd put between me and the RV. "Guess we might as well press on huh Spud?"

Spud looked up and whined softly nudging at my hand before licking it gently and moved closer to my leg. I stopped briefly to stroke his head before we carried on.

* * *

=Daryl's P.O.V=

I shifted in the seat on top of the RV, the sun was beginning to rise and Neon still hadn't come back from her walk, it had been an hour at least if not longer. _Shit where the fuck is she?_ I glanced up the road and sighed softly seeing a figure round one of the cars, head down, hands jammed in their pockets.

I glanced through the binoculars to confirm it was her and looked to Shane and Rick who were talking below. I turned sliding down the ladder on the back of the RV and looked to Neon; she looked pale, slightly ill, her shoulder's sagging and eyes raw like she'd been crying. _Ah shit, what's happened now?_

I was shoved to the side by Shane who started towards her clutching his shotgun. "Where the hell have you been? Fuckin' disappearing in the middle of the night and not telling anyone"

"Hey lay the fuck off her, she fuckin' told me she was goin' for a walk," I snapped grabbing his shoulder. "Told you that when you asked"

Shane ripped his shoulder out of my grasp glaring darkly at me before looking to Neon. "Well?" He snarled. "You got a fuckin' answer?" Neon ignored him, head still down cast as if she hadn't heard him at all. "We got a missin' girl to find and you think it's a good idea to just wander off?"

I stepped back slightly seeing Neon clench her hand into a fist; her head came up, eyes set into the same kind of glare that my father used to have when he wanted to kick my teeth in for back chatting him, I was thankful the death glare was directed at Shane and not me.

"I needed to clear my fuckin' head," She growled out between clenched teeth. "Not that it's any of **_your_** fuckin' business anyway; I got a bundle of my own fuckin' problems without having to deal with everyone else's as well"

"And Carol's missin' girl isn't one of **_your_** problems?"

A growl rumbled in her throat, an almost feral look entering her eyes. "Aye, Sophia is my problem, she's everyone's problem right now but I've got about a thousand **_other _**things on my mind and I needed to sort it all out, prioritize my own shit," She spat, a trickle of blood dripping through her fingers from her palm. "Encase you didn't realise Carol's little girl ain't the only family that's lost out here in all this bullshit, I got family as well, a fuckin' brother, a fuckin'..." She stopped cold biting her tongue hard, pure pain in her eyes. "It doesn't matter, let's just get this search underway and find Sophia so we can move on" She spat side stepping Shane and heading to her car to grab her compound bow and quiver.

"Everybody take's a weapon"

"These aren't the kind of weapons we need, what about the guns?"

"We've been over that Daryl, Rick, Neon and I are carrying, we can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles"

"It's not the trees I'm worried about"

I looked to Neon who rolled her eyes and stood hoisting her bow higher on her shoulder before checking her spare clips were filled and both guns were filled too. "You alright?"

She nodded numbly, spinning the barrel of the S&W before snapping it back into place with a flick of her wrist. "Fine, why?"

"You were gone for ages this morning"

She shrugged. "Stopped to take a piss" She murmured half heartedly before watching Spud who was sat waiting for a command from her.

I nodded before turning back to the group to explain what was going to happen.

* * *

=Neon's P.O.V=

"The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side, chances are she'll be by the creek, it's her only land mark"

I nodded lightly scratching Spud's head. "Come on, let's go find Sophia"

"Dale keep on those repairs, we've got to get this RV ready to move"

"We won't stay here a minute longer than we have to," Dale and I shared a quick glance; we both knew we'd finished the repairs the previous day and we both knew why he didn't want to say anything about it. "Good luck out there, bring Sophia back"

I looked to Dale and shook my head lightly before jerking my head back at T-Dog. "There's a box on the left side of my TransAm's boot, it's got bottles of meds, if he needs any take a look but most of it probably won't do shit, won't be strong enough to fight off the infection he's getting" I remembered the look of the wound when I'd changed the bandage only a few minutes before hand.

"Alright, thank you"

I nodded whistling to Spud and set off after the others down the small embankment and into the wooded area.

I followed silently with Spud tagging along beside me as I twirled an arrow around my fingers, we'd only been walking about a half hour when we'd come across a small campsite, tent pitched in the trees with no one around it.

I knelt beside Daryl looking towards the campsite and readied the arrow in my bow encase something jumped out at us; I looked around and the tracks on the ground, it had obviously seen a lot of through fare but none of the prints looked small enough to be Sophia's. "I don't see any child prints," I murmured softly nodded to the ground. "Only adult"

Daryl gave a nod before nudging me and jerking his head towards the tent, I gave a nod silently following him towards the tent before leaning against the tree and readying my compound bow and an arrow as he crept forward drawing his hunting knife and silently began to unzip the tent giving everyone the signal to be silent.

Rick motioned Carol forward telling her to call out to Sophia, when there was no answer Daryl slipped inside the tent before coming out. "Ain't her"

"Then who's in there?"

"Some guy," He stated. "Did what Jenner said '_opted out_', ain't that what he called it?"

I nodded before quickly looking skyward as church bells began to ring, Spud growled lowly as we chased after Rick and Daryl as they headed into the undergrowth.

"What direction?"

Spud growled tugging at my combats before pacing towards one direction. "This way," I called giving Spud the go ahead and chased after him before we came out in the back of a cemetery, a church in the distance. "There" I jerked my head towards and headed towards it sprinting with Rick as Spud chewed up ground easily and ran up the steps sniffing at the door before beginning to growl.

I gave him a nudge and pulled him out the way. "If he's growling there could be one or a hundred and one Shuffler's in there" I murmured keeping a grip on his chain.

"Let's hope he's wrong" Rick stated before he and Daryl headed up the stairs and carefully pushed the doors open.

I handed Daryl my machete and took hold of his crossbow as he, Shane and Rick started towards the three Walkers before attacking them.

I turned heading back down the stairs as the bells rang again and sighed cursing softly ripping open the small timer box on the side of the church before disengaging the automated timer. "We'll be lucky if this doesn't draw the attention of every Shuffler within a mile and a half of here"

I sighed softly and turned away as the group split, some walking back inside, others surveying the surroundings. I turned heading out towards the small cemetery beside the church, I wandered between the headstones stopping to read a few of them and clear dirt away from them.

"What're you doin' that for?"

I glanced back over my shoulder at Daryl and shrugged lightly. "Honestly?" I queried. "I don't know, I just feel like it, my Da always told me to be respectful of Cemeteries" I rubbed my thumb over the words etched into the stone. _'Edna Jacobs, born March 3rd 1902, died June 1st 1964'_

I stood relieving the ache in my leg. "So what's the great big plan now?"

He shrugged lightly. "Keep lookin' I guess," He nodded to the sky. "Startin' to get dark, so we might as well head back and search the other side of that creek while we're at it"

I nodded lightly before sighing softly and hoisting my compound bow higher. "Another lonely night in my 'Am then I guess" I murmured rubbing at the cooling sweat on the back of my neck before heading back towards the group that had assembled outside the church.

"Ya'll are gonna follow the creek bed back, ok? Daryl you're in charge," Shane stated coming back over from talking with Rick. "Me and Rick, we're just gonna hang back search this area another hour or so just to be thorough"

"You're splittin' us up, you sure?"

"Yeah, we'll catch up to you"

I turned following the group, Spud tagging along beside me as we headed back out towards the forest area again.

"So this is it? This is the whole plan?"

"I guess the plan is to whittle us down into smaller and smaller groups"

"Carrying knives and pointy sticks, I see you two have a gun" Andrea stated looking between Lori and I.

I moved my attention from the birds in the trees to her. "Aye, I do and I can take your goddamn head off from over a hundred feet away with both," I snapped. "I'm trained to use it where as you're not so why don't you just stow that shitty fuckin' attitude you picked up and get the fuck over it" Her shitty attitude had really begun to grate on my nerves and with Shane always being on my back about wandering off and generally basically not being allow to have any alone time to myself, my nerves were wearing thinner than before.

"Here, take it," Lori held her gun out to Andrea. "I'm sick of the looks you're giving me," Andrea took the gun looking at it for a moment. "All of you," Lori moved her eyes to Carol as she sat down. "Honey I can't imagine what you're going through and I would do anything to stop it but you have got to stop blaming Rick, it's in your face every time you look at him," She was cruel but telling the truth all the same. "When Sophia ran he didn't hesitate did he? Not for a second, I don't know that any of us would have gone after her the way he did or made the hard decisions that he had to make or that anybody could have done it any differently," She lowered her head shaking it slightly. "Ya'll look to him and then you blame him when he's not perfect, if you think you can do this without him, go right ahead, nobody is stopping you"

I made a move to leave and head back towards the cars on the highway but stopped as I caught the look in Daryl's eyes; I rolled my eyes slightly and leant back against the tree. _I've got to stop this bullshit; I shouldn't be staying with this group just because of some piece of good looking dick._ I sighed softly itching at the back of my neck. _Not when Connor and Amelia are out there somewhere._

* * *

Ok, so I've been away for awhile and I'm incredibly sorry about that but I've had a lot to deal with recently; for starters I'm sick, like coughing out my lungs sick, for another my depression has kicked up a gear and I'm not doing to great on that front and then in the early hours of the morning on the 20th of March my beloved 5 year old black Lab, Kaine, collapsed and died so I'm actually in a very dark and lonely place right now because Kaine was, quite literally, my best friend. The beginning of this year had gotten off to a perfect fucking start and I'm just finding it harder and harder to actually get the will to keep writing, I will keep writing I just need some time to get everything sorted because not only am I dealing with my own depression but also Spencer, our other dog, depression. He's very lonely and very depressed right now which is making it hard to do anything because he hate's being left alone.


	21. Gunshots and Hoofprints

**Disclaimer: **The Walking Dead and it's characters belong to their respective owners which is not me but I do however own Neon, Spud and other Characters that are not in the Walking Dead.

**Maddy120296:** Yeah, Kaine was only five, he would have been six this year. I've lost pets before but he was my first dog and quite literally my best friend, it's difficult to forget a dog that pulled me through so much, especially when he's left a huge gaping hole in my heart. I did have medication but my broke ass can't afford anymore at the moment because the doctor I have charges $50 each time I need to go in, I'm beginning to think I need to find a cheaper doctor but this guy's known me for my entire 20 years of life (Nearly 21 years).

**writergrrrl:** I've dealt with depression on and off for the past 7 to 8 years, I was doing alright until Dante died and that seemed to bring it all back and with a whole lot of anxieties piled on top of that depression it's made it worse but onto a better note like what can I say about Neon? She was a marine, marine's talk dirty :D. Totally agree about Andrea, I never liked her (Although I was a bit sad when she died) I mean it ticked me off to no end watching the episode where she learns to shoot, it's like all of a sudden she's cracking off headshots? Na uh, no way, after not having no clue on how to shoot then to suddenly become headshot queen (That is, of course, Neon's rightful title), it had no progress to that point, it's not exactly easy to get a headshot on a moving target and there will be more animosity between the two of them because it is just so easy and far to tempting to not write it between Andrea and Neon.

**FanFicGirl10:** Thank you doll, I'm taking it a day at a time right now and trying not to let everything get to me but the council are pricks and then they honestly wonder why no one wants to register dogs with them.

**Leyshla Gisel:** Thank you and I'm trying, although everything's kind of turning into one big shit storm.

**shika93:** Hello, welcome. Thank you for your condolences about Kaine. I don't know about Lori, I liked her more than I did Andrea but she did need to man up for some things.

* * *

**Gunshots and Hoof Prints**

=Neon's P.O.V=

I stalled at the sound of a gunshot and looked to Daryl before glancing back at the rest of the group. "What the fuck was that?"

Daryl shrugged. "Must have found a Walker"

I nodded slowly before turning back around and heading in the direction of the road again, we'd only walked about a half mile before Lori stopped and turned back to where the gunshot had come from.

"You still worrying about it?"

"It was a gunshot"

"We all heard it" I leant against one of the trees exhaling slowly and shifted my bag on my shoulder before wetting my lips and getting out my drink bottle, I took a drink before tipping some into my hand for Spud.

"Why just one? Why just one gunshot?"

"Maybe they took down a Walker" Daryl commented glancing away from her in the hopes she'd buy the lie.

Lori shook her head glaring slightly. "Please don't patronize me, you know Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot to put down one Walker, or Shane, they'd do it quietly"

"Aye, she's right, after that horde back on the road neither of them would risk the sound attracting more Shufflers to them"

"Shouldn't they have caught up to us by now?"

"There's nothing we can do about it anyway," Daryl turned looking around. "Can't run around these woods chasing echoes"

"So what do we do?"

"Same as before, head back to the RV and keep a look out for any sign of Sophia" I stated standing and putting the bottle back in my bag before hoisting it up onto my shoulder again.

I stopped with the others as Andrea turned to talk to Carol.

"I'm sorry for what you're going through, I know how you feel"

"I suppose you do, thank you," Carol forced a smile to her lips before it faded. "The thought of her, out here by herself... it's the not knowing that's killing me," She looked around the wooded area. "I just keep hoping and praying she doesn't wind up like Amy," She stopped and looked to Andrea almost in tears. "Oh god, that's the worst thing I ever said"

Andrea shook her head lightly. "We're all hoping and praying with you, for what it's worth"

I looked to Daryl, his eyes on me before I shook my head lightly and turned away from the group slightly. _Join the fucking club._ I glared harshly at the ground._ You're not the only one whose kids are lost._ I sighed lighting a cigarette and took a deep breath.

"I'll tell you what it's worth, not a damn thing," Daryl stated. "It's a waste of time, all this hopin' and prayin'," He shifted his eyes to me before back to Carol. "We're gonna locate that little girl, she's gonna be just fine," He moved to turn away. "Am I the only one Zen around here? Good lord"

I bit back a bitter laugh and turned carrying on towards the highway.

* * *

I stopped briefly as Spud began growling softly, his hackles going up, nose in the air. "What is it?" I murmured readying my bow with an arrow.

"Come on, we'll lose the light before too long, I think we should call it"

I nodded lightly. "Let's head back," I stated keeping my eyes on Spud. "Ain't shit we can do in the dark"

"We'll pick it up again tomorrow?" Carol asked looking between Daryl and I.

"Of course we will"

Carol nodded forcing a smile to her lips before we set out again.

"How much further?"

"Not much, maybe a hundred yards as the crow flies" Daryl stated nudging a few branching out of the way with his crossbow.

"Too bad we're not crows"

I glanced over my shoulder and then back to Spud as he started growling again, head going low as he hunted the surrounding area for his prey. "What's up with you Spud?"

He growled again barring his teeth as he let out a low predatory growl. I turned quickly at the yell for help.

"Andrea?"

I gave Spud the signal to go and watched him shoot off before following him towards Andrea and the Walker that was trying to eat her face.

Spud stopped cold as a horse cantered in front of him, the bat the rider held striking the Walker knocking it sideways.

"Lori? Lori Grimes?" The rider queried.

"I'm Lori"

"Rick sent me; you've got to come now"

"What?"

"There's been an accident, Carl's been shot," The rider seemed almost panicked. "He's still alive but you've gotta come now, Rick needs you, just come!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, we don't know this girl," Daryl tried to grab Lori and stop her getting on the horse. "You can't get on that horse"

"Rick said you had others on the highway, that big traffic snarl?"

I nodded glancing to Spud who was eyeing the downed Walker. "Aye"

"Back track to Fairburn road, two miles down is our farm, you'll see the mailbox, name's Greene" She turned spurring the horse on leaving us behind in a slight daze as to what the fuck just happened.

I turned as the Walker sat up and drew my machete before Daryl fired an arrow through its skull killing it and retrieved it before helping Andrea up. "When we get back to the RV it'll be too late to turn it round and head back to that road," I stated. "It would probably be best we wait until the morning"

Daryl nodded as we started back towards the highway, we fell into step with each other, crossbow and compound bow in hand and at the ready encase any more Walkers decided to show up. "How you holdin' up?"

I glanced at him before shrugging. "Fine, now stop asking me" I snapped lightly.

He shifted a step, obviously taken back by my tone, and nodded stiffly. "Sorry"

I sighed softly and shook my head. "Don't be, it's just me, I'm getting worse and worse the longer this shit goes on," I swallowed roughly lowering my voice so the others couldn't hear us. "I don't know how much longer I can last, I mean, shit love I want to stay but I need to go," I shook my head lightly. "I'm torn"

He nodded. "I didn't mean to do that to you," He looked away wrestling with whatever inner turmoil he was going through. "You can leave if you want, keep goin', find your kids, your brother"

I glanced at him out the corner of my eye. "What do you want?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"What. Do. **_You._** Want?" I repeated slowly. "Do you want me to stay or go?"

A look entered his eyes, one that told me it was possible he'd never been asked that question before. "I want you to find your family but maybe the only way to do that is to stay with us?"

I smiled lightly before grinning softly. "Just say it _bogha_, you only want me around so you can stare at my arse and shag me at every opportunity you get"

Daryl shook his head, cheeks tinting red as he lowered his head, a brief light smile dancing over his lips before looking up at Dale as we arrived back at the RV.

"Where's Lori and the others?"

"Carl got shot"

"Shot? What do you mean shot?"

"I don't know Dale, I wasn't there," Glenn panted softly as we climbed the hill. "All I know is that this chick rode in out of nowhere like Zorro on a horse and took Lori"

"You let her?"

"Climbed down out of my asshole man, Rick sent her," Daryl growled as he passed. "She knew Lori's name and Carl's"

I stretched and rested against the bonnet of my 'Am before sighing heavily, my bones and muscles aching dully. I took a long drink from my bottle before pouring some into a bowl for Spud. "We need to set out and if we don't do it now we need to do it in the morning, first thing"

"I won't do it," Carol shook her head. "We can't just leave"

"Carol the group is split," Dale stated leaning against the RV. "We're scattered and weak"

"What if she comes back and we're not here?"

"Then we leave some of our supplies and a message telling her to stay here and that we'll be back for her," I nodded to one of the cars. "There's gotta be a can of spray paint in one of these cars somewhere"

Daryl nodded. "We pull up stakes in the morning, gives us enough time to rig a big sign," He motioned to the RV. "I'll stay here tonight with the RV"

"If the RV's stayin' I am too" Dale stated running a hand over the metal exterior.

"Thank you, thank you both"

Their eye's fell to Andrea. "I'm in"

"I'll go to the farm," I jerked my head to T-Dog. "If they've got a doc maybe they can help patch his arm up, get rid of that infection that's set in"

"Take Glenn with you too," Dale motioned to the Wagon. "He can take Carol's Cherokee so you can take your 'Am"

I nodded lightly. "Aye, sounds like a plan but he's going to need some drugs him and I don't know if the shit I have will cut it" I watched Daryl head to his Bonneville and grab a rag off the top before fishing out a bag of medical supplies.

"Keep your oily rags off my brother's motorcycle," He stated throwing the rag at Dale before dumping the bag on top the 'Am's hood and started to rifle through it. "Why'd you wait till now to say anything?" He queried. "Got my brothers stash," He stated rifling through some of the baggies. "Crystal, X... don't need that," He murmured. "Got some kick ass painkillers," He threw a bottle at Glenn. "Doxycycline, not the generic stuff neither," He handed the bottle to Dale. "Its first class, Merle got the Clap on occasion"

I shook my head slightly suppressing a grin. "Thank god for your brother's hooker habit then huh?"

Daryl glared lightly with a grin flickering across his lips as he threw up his fingers at me.

I stood stretching and looked to Spud. "Let's get some drugs into T-Dog and hit the road; I would prefer to not slam head first into a fuckin' Shuffler or some shit"

"Alright, you guys get on the road," Dale handed the bottle of pills to Glenn. "Stay behind Neon, she can lead the way"

I gave a nod putting my things on the back seat and motioned for Spud to jump in and looked to Carol as she stood looking into the forest. I turned heading towards her and slipped the rosary off my neck placing it around hers. "It's been getting a bit rusty in my care, you might be able to get some use out of it," I grinned weakly. "I'm not much of a good catholic," I shrugged lightly. "Just look after it, it's been in my family since way back, you can give it back when we find your Sophia"

Carol looked to the rosary and smiled nodding before hugging me. "Thank you"

"Aye, it's alright" I turned looking to Glenn. "Come on, let's hit the road" I stated before glancing over the rest of the group. "We'll meet you in the morning at the farm" I called as I slipped into my 'Am and backed up carefully between the Wagon and one of the cars on the road before waiting for Glenn and T-Dog to get situated so we could be on our way.

* * *

I don't really have much to say, it's my 21st on the 16th so I want to get another chap up by then and I'm working on some pics, one or two for each chap (Plus some more... _adult_ ones ;D like... oh I don't know... maybe a certain scene from chap 14) and when I have the first one done I'll leave a note,


End file.
